And to put riders at risk, and to potentialy end their Tour due to a serious injury? I guess some people really are this stupid.
jeff
Has anyone else noticed the current fashion of saddles to be much lower than tradition, often you se knees still bent at the bottom of the stroke and feet pointing up.
All the comments about 'spectators' are actually too kind to these ~*@~heads. Here in France we get start to finish coverage. Being retired means that as my wife and I are TdF junkies we get to overdose and all for free. After each stage there are big discussions between the French commentators one of whom is an ex pro female rider, her name is Marion Rousse, real eye candy, married to Tony Gallopin. They intervue most of the 'jerseys'. My biggest beef is that France like so many countries in Europe dub everything instead of sub titling. In northern Europe and Scandinavia nearly everyone speaks really good English, often better than a lot of English people. It's so bizarre that the riders of these countries have questions asked in French who after translated into their respective languages always reply in English. As a Celt I'm not a promoter of English, the Celtic languages are far more poetic and detailed, It's just a fact that English is and has been a world language for some time now along with Spanish and then there's Urdu and Mandarin.
Some time ago there was an attempt to create a pan-European language - Esperanto, a truly great idea. It consists of a little bit of virtually all the European languages. Imagine all European schools learning not only their own national languages but Esperanto as well. No problem going to work in other European countries or on vacation or the important school exchanges or far important chatting up girls from other countries. The cost to EU tax payers in the EU parliament of the hundreds of interpreters - far too sensible so will never happen.
Some time ago there was an attempt to create a pan-European language - Esperanto, a truly great idea. It consists of a little bit of virtually all the European languages. Imagine all European schools learning not only their own national languages but Esperanto as well. No problem going to work in other European countries or on vacation or the important school exchanges or far important chatting up girls from other countries. The cost to EU tax payers in the EU parliament of the hundreds of interpreters - far too sensible so will never happen.
Trouble for Esperanto is that English already ate it's lunch, the very reason for it's existence. IMO Esperanto is never going to fulfill it's creator's expectations.
FWIW I think English isn't that great a language, grammars not bad, but the spelling and pronunciation sucks.
The strength of English is that it's not proud and has sucked up words and usage from around the globe. The Hobson Jobson dictionary being a good illustration.
FWIW I like Spanish.
Perhaps Spanish with English grammar??? Or phonetic English. Cween instead of queen?
FWIW I think English isn't that great a language, grammars not bad, but the spelling and pronunciation sucks.
The strength of English is that it's not proud and has sucked up words and usage from around the globe. The Hobson Jobson dictionary being a good illustration.
FWIW I like Spanish.
Perhaps Spanish with English grammar??? Or phonetic English. Cween instead of queen?
I did see a picture of plus-6 foot top rider on what appears to be a ~55 cm frame. Looked like a circus clown bike fit. Is this the latest pro fashion, like 30 degree downward sloped saddles? Looks like murder on the knees.
BTW, better days TdF scanned from the family photo album:
Attachments
For me, downhill is frightening above 25mph!
In 1994 we were stopped by the police around Cahors as they were pulling all the traffic off the road for the TdF. My sons who were ardent cyclists were thrilled!
My doctor told me "no bicycling and no sex for a week before PSA test"!
I think many of this get a taste everyday. I'm just glad when I am not the subject.
I've been up to 55kph and it was enough make me fearful of the consequences of a blowout or unexpected gravel and the impact with a fencepost and barbed wire.
There are old pilots and bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots....
Many years ago I went on an easy group ride of a dozen or so riders of which unbelievably included Eddy Merckx. I was starstuck.
You can't see it in the US unless you got cable/satellite TV. While I was at my sister's house, on vacation, I was able to see it, it was very nice.
Can I see it on line?
Cursed NBC does it on Sunday, but they butcher it.
The days of Eddie Merckx.... when men were men and TV was black and white. Yes, this is one heck of a Tour... Mountains and they even started it in the Basque Country! C'est tres bien... an affront to the hegemonist Castilians.
That sounds like the thrill of a lifetime. There's the old joke where the cyclist goes to Heaven and St. Peter points to a single cyclist in white continuously circling a track. "That's God; He thinks He's Eddie Merckx."
Tonto from Toronto spoke Esperanto.
Seriously... a silly idea when you really think about it. The current languages are far more interesting... world views subtly different.
I mean, I believe the Germans have like 100 terms to say "let's invade France"....the Catalans 1000 terms to say "let's fight Madrid and maybe this time we'll win"... and so on.... and the funny way the Flemish clear their throat.
A decade ago we had "TV5" or "TV cinque" for free on our cable system and could see the TdF. I don't know where to find it anymore.
You're confusing them with the phlegmish. English, you couldn't make it up. You probably wouldn't want to.
Your missing the point - like it or not a lot of Europeans are resentful that they have to learn English, especially if they want to do international trade. The same way that the Romans forced other peoples to learn Latin, so much so that most European languages have a Latin base, including English. Spanish is constructed from two totally different languages - Latin and Arabic. It's also a fact that many English point blank refuse to learn a language even when they live in another European country. This is pure arrogance and stupidity. When I was living and working in the Netherlands I met English that after living in that country for years spoke zero Dutch. Virtually all the Scots and Irish learned to speak Dutch.
It's purely historical timing that English and Spanish have achieved this dominance by virtue of their empires, exactly the same as Rome and Latin, there is absolutely no other reason, they are not supaerior to other langauges. When you look at the English speaking riders in the TdF it's embarrassing that hardly any can speak French or any other language, even when they ride for French teams.
If you take holidays abroad do you bother to respect those countries by at least learning some basic phrases in the language of that country? Most English don't, they arrogantly expect the locals to speak to them in English. I repeat I think it's bad that dubbing is used instead of sub-titles.
The viewpoint of English is subtly different from the Latin Languages. It lacks well defined preterits and perfect tenses. Hence, the notion of action in regards to time is lacking. Ie:
An event was completed ( past perfect )
An event was happening ( past imperfect )
An event had completed ( past perfect preterit )
etc...
You can create English language structures to describe such subtleties, but those are explicit in Latin.
Castilian Spanish is more complex than just Latin and Arabic. It really depends on the region, and even so it's the words and pronunciation, not the language structure and world view, that were affected... most notably in Andalucian (a dialect). Other languages, such as Catalan ,were not so affected, Catalan is based on Occitan, a derivation of Vulgar Latin, and which Charles Martel kept clean from the Sultanate. So is Navarran and Basque.
In Italy you got all kinds of local languages, Latin based. Germany is all over the map. Even France, the first European Nation State, has all kinds of other tongues, most notably that of the Saxons.
English pronunciation is a killer...so is spelling. I learned French rather quickly... but English... Ay coño, it was very hard. Reading it is easy as the world view is rather simple, but the irregularities... yikes!
Why do we have to use the word "it" so much? Huh?
In terms of arrogance... well.... I think the British elites are horrendous... have you ever visited Australia, Singapore, etc... and seen their national museums? Yikes. But then, I don't think they treated their own people much better. I think the British elites were quite equalitarian when dishing out the pomposity.
Oh, on English becoming a pan-European language. I think it was for the best. There is no way for any other language to be accepted in the Continent. Do you think the Croatians, Catalans, French, Dutch, Lombards would accede to their neighbor's language as the "standard". No, they all had to suffer equally.
OTOH, if it had been the Catalan Armada, instead of the Spanish Armada, perhaps Catalan would have become the global language, the English would have good food and Barça would be revered.. It is a good language with a regular structure and no harsh, guttural or "nosey" sounds.
Think... why do the French need a trailing "e" in their words... they seldom pronounce it. Except for Merde, of course.
An event was completed ( past perfect )
An event was happening ( past imperfect )
An event had completed ( past perfect preterit )
etc...
You can create English language structures to describe such subtleties, but those are explicit in Latin.
Castilian Spanish is more complex than just Latin and Arabic. It really depends on the region, and even so it's the words and pronunciation, not the language structure and world view, that were affected... most notably in Andalucian (a dialect). Other languages, such as Catalan ,were not so affected, Catalan is based on Occitan, a derivation of Vulgar Latin, and which Charles Martel kept clean from the Sultanate. So is Navarran and Basque.
In Italy you got all kinds of local languages, Latin based. Germany is all over the map. Even France, the first European Nation State, has all kinds of other tongues, most notably that of the Saxons.
English pronunciation is a killer...so is spelling. I learned French rather quickly... but English... Ay coño, it was very hard. Reading it is easy as the world view is rather simple, but the irregularities... yikes!
Why do we have to use the word "it" so much? Huh?
In terms of arrogance... well.... I think the British elites are horrendous... have you ever visited Australia, Singapore, etc... and seen their national museums? Yikes. But then, I don't think they treated their own people much better. I think the British elites were quite equalitarian when dishing out the pomposity.
Oh, on English becoming a pan-European language. I think it was for the best. There is no way for any other language to be accepted in the Continent. Do you think the Croatians, Catalans, French, Dutch, Lombards would accede to their neighbor's language as the "standard". No, they all had to suffer equally.
OTOH, if it had been the Catalan Armada, instead of the Spanish Armada, perhaps Catalan would have become the global language, the English would have good food and Barça would be revered.. It is a good language with a regular structure and no harsh, guttural or "nosey" sounds.
Think... why do the French need a trailing "e" in their words... they seldom pronounce it. Except for Merde, of course.
Last edited:
Slightly off topic…
Just reading this thread makes my knees hurt.
Some years back I found an internet site that produces bicycle routes to help folks who wished to ride a bit. It gave me a route from home to work. I decided to drive it first.
Good thing! Around here it being three river valleys and lots of foothills, routes can be important.
The route suggested not only had lots of hills but also blind curves on roads with no shoulders. Of course I saw no bicycles on the route. I suspect anyone foolish enough to try the route would at best end up spending time in the hospital.
Along the obviously flat route running beside the river there are actually bicycle lanes. Unfortunately they end a mile short of my goal. The rest of the distance would be on automobile routes with mostly high weave sections. Again a sure route for disaster.
So as much as I enjoy the occasional coverage of the tour, I just don’t get to bicycle much myself anymore.
Then there was the time when I was much younger and stopped for a soft drink and returned outside the shop to find my bicycle was stolen! Very long walk home.
Just reading this thread makes my knees hurt.
Some years back I found an internet site that produces bicycle routes to help folks who wished to ride a bit. It gave me a route from home to work. I decided to drive it first.
Good thing! Around here it being three river valleys and lots of foothills, routes can be important.
The route suggested not only had lots of hills but also blind curves on roads with no shoulders. Of course I saw no bicycles on the route. I suspect anyone foolish enough to try the route would at best end up spending time in the hospital.
Along the obviously flat route running beside the river there are actually bicycle lanes. Unfortunately they end a mile short of my goal. The rest of the distance would be on automobile routes with mostly high weave sections. Again a sure route for disaster.
So as much as I enjoy the occasional coverage of the tour, I just don’t get to bicycle much myself anymore.
Then there was the time when I was much younger and stopped for a soft drink and returned outside the shop to find my bicycle was stolen! Very long walk home.
Last edited:
Emphatically not. I've worked with French, Germans, Italians and Spanish and have sat in meetings with all of them and the only language they all had in common was English. They accepted that English was an important second language to learn for that reason. What you're suggesting is that they learn a language no-one speaks as a first language, just to use it as a second language?
Was anyone actually saying anything else? You set up a nice straw man and knocked it down. But to what end? I certainly wasn't suggesting or saying these languages were superior. But we are where we are, and while you may dream of overturning the 'hegemony' of colonial languages by using Esperanto, it just ain't going to happen.
As for the refusal of the ENGLISH to learn a new language, not going there. All I will say is that in the bits of Spain I visit all of the different nationalities tend to cluster and form colonies. In those colonies, they tend to speak their own languages. Go to Nerja, Almuñecar, Salobreña and other towns on the coast or inland and you can find places set up to serve various EU nationals, in their own languages. Health centres have multi lingual signs and leaflets. I know of people who can't even properly pronounce the name of the place they live in...
Personally I don't approve of any accommodation for non Spanish speakers. My view is, like yours, that if you're going to live somewhere you should damn well make an effort to learn the language and try to appreciate the culture. I am impressed with the tolerance shown by (most) Spaniards most of the time.