i was curious about how riders relieved themselves. i heard about it before but could not remember. anyway, here's the info... http://img1.eurosport.com/imgbk/cycl..._md-i82878.jpg

the other thing i was wondering about was litter. riders dump bottles/food containers all over the place, sometimes when their team car is right next to them. i guess somebody picks it all up, though.

finally, i'm not sure about the 2 x 2-pronged attack by the OLN call booth. it could be better if 3 of them were doing it at once...the tag team setup is a little strange. and nothing against bob roll, but his hard line against french inflection is kind of annoying. it would be funny to hear him call a soccer match between brazil and italy.

In many cases, youll see the fans scrambling to pick up anything the riders throw out. Anything else, I would assume that as part of the costs of holding the race, you'd have someone to come by the course after the ride and clean--if nothing else, all those people are going to make one hell of a mess.

And yeah, the OLN coverage is sometimes spotty. The thing is, you can't seperate Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen--they are the John Madden of cycling. And they can't be diluted by a third announcer either. As for Bob Roll, I like his wacky sense of humor. The man is batshit crazy, and it's interesting to hear his hilarious take on the workings of the peloton.

yeah, the guy is definitely unique...here he is forging his own trail in '88.

http://store1.yimg.com/I/velogear_1849_36818621

oln tv coverage
 

phil, paul and bob are totally cool. they all have unique perspectives: phil's covered, what, 32 tours? and paul, while not as experienced as phil, has the advantage of tv experience, the insight possible by being a former pro himself, and having worked in the motorola [us postal/now discovery] team structure. bob has the perspective of having raced and trained in the same program as lance [7/11->motorola->us postal->discovery] in the early days, and really has a great feel for the insanity that is [pro] bike racing.

if you've ever raced, you know how dead-on bobke is. if you are not a racer, it will take some getting used to. but you should try.

the idiot of the bunch is al trautwig. he really IS a big dumbass. they have one every year. follows some idiot programmer's wet-dream model.

in years past, they just had phil, paul and bob. it was ideal.

great picture, rickyy. i'm guessing paris-roubaix. no other race like it.

and "sports commentators" say cycling is not a sport. they're stupid. oh well, if they actually did pay attention to it, i fear i wouldn't like the direction the sport would take.

How can someone say that cycling is not a sport, bah.

Mind you most of these "sports commentators" are either monstrously overweight or pushing upwards of 60, so cycling for any period of time is likely to result in their heart attack.

Yeah, Al Trautwig sucks. I love listening to him just to sit there and correct the multitude of incorrect things he says. Its also funny to watch him when hes talking to Phil and Paul, or Bobke. Those guys are constantly like "uh, no, its not really like that at all, here's how it really is." Funny to watch.