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TDF hotels and conditions

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Mar 22, 2009
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Amazing how often I hear riders say that their rooms were too warm.

I suspect for an elite athlete the comfort zone is only a couple degrees. Too cold and it messes with their lungs. Too hot and they can't sleep.
 
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chiocciolis_calves said:
May I ask what it is in Europe with not having air conditioning in so many hotels and public accommodations, not to mention your homes? Do you just value sweat more than us Yanks, or what?

Obviously it's a bit different in the southern parts of Europe, but trust me; in Denmark the number of days you'd even need air conditioning is so low it's not really worth it.
 
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RedheadDane said:
chiocciolis_calves said:
May I ask what it is in Europe with not having air conditioning in so many hotels and public accommodations, not to mention your homes? Do you just value sweat more than us Yanks, or what?

Obviously it's a bit different in the southern parts of Europe, but trust me; in Denmark the number of days you'd even need air conditioning is so low it's not really worth it.

Yeah same here in England, id probably say we only get a month of fairly hot weather if we are lucky and nothing that a simple plug in fan can't handle.
 
Aug 4, 2010
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Pricey_sky said:
RedheadDane said:
chiocciolis_calves said:
May I ask what it is in Europe with not having air conditioning in so many hotels and public accommodations, not to mention your homes? Do you just value sweat more than us Yanks, or what?

Obviously it's a bit different in the southern parts of Europe, but trust me; in Denmark the number of days you'd even need air conditioning is so low it's not really worth it.

Yeah same here in England, id probably say we only get a month of fairly hot weather if we are lucky and nothing that a simple plug in fan can't handle.
Same here, only 15-20 days when it really bothers me, not worth that huge money it costs here.
 
Air con is a life-saver - I cannot imagine Contador slept at all. I was in France until a couple of days ago and it's been fiercely hot. AC was broken in my room and didn't sleep for two nights…heat rising off the streets in the evening only made it worse. I don't have any allergies and it was literally difficult to breathe - suffocatingly hot and extremely humid. Cold shower and wetting the entire mattress and sheet was the only way to get body temp. down.

I'm no advocate of motor homes, but it seems ludicrous to get together loads of highly trained elite athletes then give them the lottery of terrible hotels. There surely has to be basic standards - no air con therefore no sleep would be a serious problem for the following days, no matter who you were. Unsanitary conditions so you get sick; it's just stupid.

As for accommodation, I simply don't believe that there are so few alternatives, especially in touristy places. It'd be way better to have to drive an extra hour than get no sleep. Being cynical, it'll be coz ASO have some corporate arrangement with certain hotel groups /franchises, and so have to use them even if they're crap.
 
Nov 16, 2011
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WildspokeJoe said:
So what I don't understand is that these teams spend so much money on preparation. They scout the routes. Why don't they also scout the hotels? Understand what rooms they will be staying in and plan accordingly.

If the hotel doesn't have an air conditioner in the room, then why not bring a portable one?

How does one plan accordingly when forced to be in some dump? We're talking real dumps too. I've never seen anything so bad in the US. You can't just take a portable AC in a hotel. There needs to be an exhaust hose going to the outside that's well sealed, often requiring carpentry to be done for non-standard windows, and portable ACs consume 1000+ watts to operate and 5000+ instantaneous power for the compressor to kick itself on. Those electrical systems don't meet the stringent US electrical codes so they would blow out the fuse and the hotel would probably kick them out for creating a fire hazard.

Edit: I take it back. There is a way to plan accordingly - find alternative accomodations. Of course, the Tour organizers will sanction Teams for doing this as they want to ensure kickbacks and freebies continues to flow into their pockets.
 
Echoes said:
Remember two years ago, Gert Steegmans' hotel room around Alpe d'Huez/Bourg d'Oisans

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And that's supposed to be the greatest race in the world, my a*se. The Tour of France is a disgrace and its hotel conditions is a symptom of its decline. Needless to say, riders are much better treated in the classics. Not even close. :cool:
No wonder he retired.
 
Jun 15, 2009
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Well, if you finish stages in rural areas with 300 people villages, its hard to find enough 5 star hotels for 200 riders and staff with proper air condition, a butler, a pool, and a car park... But ofc ASO is to blame. Why dont they built hotels one year in advance in every stage village they stop? :rolleyes:
 
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FoxxyBrown1111 said:
Well, if you finish stages in rural areas with 300 people villages, its hard to find enough 5 star hotels for 200 riders and staff with proper air condition, a butler, a pool, and a car park... But ofc ASO is to blame. Why dont they built hotels one year in advance in every stage village they stop? :rolleyes:
Isn't it the same case for Olympics, World cup or F1/MotoGP which are only held during certain years or only once a year that the infrastructure be proper so that not only teams but fans as well get accommodation. The tour is supposed to generate revenue for the city/town and on the basis of which money is borrowed to be put into developing the infrastructure. Aren't all the towns/city falling over themselves for a start or finish of a stage of tdf?
 
Jun 15, 2009
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And all these facilities built for Olympics are useless after 14 days of action. Look at Athens, Sarajevo, any town that hosted one... tax-money wasted big time for ruins. Montreal still pays the depts from 1976 :eek:

Its a myth sporting events "create" money. Its a zero sum game with the taxpayers being the idiots...

No sir, ASO cant built new streets, hotels, whatever, for a bike race from 3.000 people town A to 150 people village B... They are just race organizers. And do one heck of a awesome job.
 
Sorry for bumping this thread, but it is hard for some hotels to install air conditioning in every room because it is very expensive and it doesn't interest them to install air conditioning in every room. Recently I was in a hot and had the opportunity to ask the manager about that, he said that it is too expensive to maintain all A/C. Also, he shared with me that next year their hotel will be fully equipped, they signed a contract with an aircon service company, and they will fully provide them with A/C. I said that I will visit them for sure.

I find American’s surprise at the low prevalence of A/C in Europe slightly amusing sometimes because Europe has a very wide range of climates. The idea of installing air conditioning in a private home in Ireland borders on the idiotic. It just doesn’t get very hot (or very cold here). The highest temperature ever recorded is 33.3 C (93 F). That was 140 years ago. We might get a day with heat over 30 C (86F) one to three times a decade. You get A/C in some luxury hotels, but only because foreign guests expect it.

That said, I agree with the yanks when it comes to Southern Europe. Hotels without air conditioning in places where day time temps hit 35 C + regularly are bizarrely common and I don’t just mean budget options or total fleapits.
 
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Even when I'm travelling south in the summer, I usually don't use air condition, just don't like it.

I mean, I guess in Texas or in Australia you'd just suffocate without it, but usually, even in the middle of the summer in Greece or Italy etc., just having the window open at night is sufficient for me.
 
Even when I'm travelling south in the summer, I usually don't use air condition, just don't like it.

I mean, I guess in Texas or in Australia you'd just suffocate without it, but usually, even in the middle of the summer in Greece or Italy etc., just having the window open at night is sufficient for me.
If you go to a country with mosquitoes you quickly learn the benefits of air con, especially if there is malaria.
 
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