the moment

[Carols]

I've loved the sport for as far back as I can remember...my dad was a domestic (USA) ex-pro and as a family we went to bike races, velodromes, etc since I was a toddler. The family was steeped in the sport and I knew about drafting and team tactics by the time I was 5 years old

Yes at one point in time Lance was my hero (No More!) and my dad passed just before the 1999 Tour. I was devastated that he never got to see Lance make it to the yellow jersey. But my brothers and I were screaming at the TV as Lance pegged the prologue while we were cleaning out my dad's house.

 

[cocteau_ireland]

This year's Tour. A kazakh rider attacks all the way into a ditch. I was hooked.

 

[will10]

Never actually watched that before. From all the hype I assumed some sort of epic 800m solo attack. Bit surprised to see Vino was simply part of a genuine breakaway and did no work at all in the final km. Not exactly the attack mad cretin the reputation suggests.

So he attacks at 3km, does huge pulls with Krivtsov, holding about 100m on the bunch, and then has the legs to go after McGee's move under the kite, spends 300m desperately fighting to get on the wheel, and then launches the sprint at 400m to go and holds off the bunch, and that's a rubbish win I guess? You have high standards.

 

[Siriuscat]

Been watching for years, earliest memories are watching the World of Sport and seeing excerpts of the Tours stages of the relevant week and Eddy Merckx's second or third win. Earliest distinct memory was Bernard Thevenet winnig on Mont Ventoux so that would be 72....I was about six.

Kept watching every year until my own sports got in the way then some character by the name of Miller popped up and he was Scottish, and he came from a 20 miles from where I lived and that was it! I think the fact that a bloke from the west of Scotland could become a great like Robert did showed me that you can become great in cycling from the humblest of backgrounds. My reading over the years has pretty much confirmed that most cyclists do "the job" to get away from where they grew up and the demographics and socio-economics that surround them in their formative years.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

I`d like to know how many of us used to love/admire armstrong..at one point in our life.

I can honestly never say I liked him

I was always devestated when jan lost. SOmething about LA I never liked, even in my niave days. dope what ?

 

[AngusW]

I`d like to know how many of us used to love/admire armstrong..at one point in our life.

Never loved or admired Armstrong. Although I did give him the benefit of the doubt on his preparation methods for much longer than I should have.

I started following cycle racing in 1982 after seeing the film 'Breaking Away' on television. It piqued my interest enough to read every book on cycling that I could find. In one of those books was a four or five page account of the 1975 Tour de France. For me, there was something inspirational about a guy who gets punched in the stomach on the Puy de Dome, cracks badly on Pra Loup, is decisively beaten by his main rival on Bastille Day, crashes and breaks a cheekbone the day after and yet still goes on contesting the race and even wins back some time in the final mountain top finish and final time trial. Eddy Merckx's handling of his first defeat in the Tour and his graciousness towards Thevenet made me a fan of his long before I knew his palmares and realised he was considered the greatest ever cyclist.

There was almost no cycling coverage at the time on our local television channels (of which there were two) but somehow I managed to catch the 10 second clip of Hinault winning the final stage of the 1982 Tour and the voice over saying that he'd also won the Tour of Italy that year.

 

[RedheadDane]

RE loving/admiring Armstrong:

Even though I "missed" the first few of his wins I still pretty soon realized that "Okay... that guy is gonna take the yellow jersey and win... BLEHHH!!!"
In fact I thought the 2006 campaign was pretty cool because he was gone. For the first time, that I could remember, the winner wasn't almost certain from the beginning. And having several of the supposed "heirs" out too didn't exactly lower the exitement...

 

[gregrowlerson]

 

[sublimit]

When I was a small child I got some pleasure reading through all the sports results in the daily newspaper whether it was tennis, football, cycling, ice hockey or pretty much anything. Kind of a really odd thing to do for a kid but anyway i got inspired by reading about Robert Millar, Stephen Roche, Sean Yates standings on GC and stage results at the Tour and other races.

Also got into city centre cycling on channel 4 and got hooked big style after seeing those crits.
I went out and bought a bike and promptly fell off on my second training ride.

 

[El Pistolero]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVCrBMNi1Vw

This is the very first race I ever watched. I don't remember all that much about it anymore, but it's certainly he who brought me into cycling.

 

[El Pistolero]

When I was a small child I got some pleasure reading through all the sports results in the daily newspaper whether it was tennis, football, cycling, ice hockey or pretty much anything. Kind of a really odd thing to do for a kid but anyway i got inspired by reading about Robert Millar, Stephen Roche, Sean Yates standings on GC and stage results at the Tour and other races.

Also got into city centre cycling on channel 4 and got hooked big style after seeing those crits.
I went out and bought a bike and promptly fell off on my second training ride.

On my first training ride I rode over a cat and hit the asphalt pretty badly

The stupid cat was ok I guess. Perhaps some broken ribs.

edit: and I once fell when riding over a tennis ball

 

[sublimit]

On my first training ride I rode over a cat and hit the asphalt pretty badly

The stupid cat was ok I guess. Perhaps some broken ribs.

edit: and I once fell when riding over a tennis ball

Lol, Poor cat. Yeah i remember getting out of the saddle on a slight incline on a straight road and losing control at 20 kph or so and just came off on my own.. Probably the worse exhibition of bike handling in history.

 

[Captain_Cavman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQojh-wqL04

As a kid I spent my summers in the South of France so I was fairly knowledgeable. But it didn't really grab me until the 1987 tour, after which every time I came to a hill I'd imagine Delgado was somewhere up the road. I'd slam my bike into a tougher gear or two and power my way up. For about 10 yards.

 

[c&cfan]

Lol, Poor cat. Yeah i remember getting out of the saddle on a slight incline on a straight road and losing control at 20 kph or so and just came off on my own.. Probably the worse exhibition of bike handling in history.

once i was in my bike at 100kph (+-), while going uphill. beyonce was falling, but i just came past her at high speed (for me it's regular speed) and grabbed her, saving her life. unfortunately my clothes were destroyed in the process and the physical attraction and desire became obvious. with my amazing handling and sexual skills, we did it right there, on top of my bike. luckily, i am not only hot, i am also super strong. she was crazy... she was loving it but she was shaking and screaming and telling me to keep going. it was an hell of an exercise. at the end i cried. she said that she wanted to see me again, but i know that she only wants sex. all women want sex with me, but i want something more........ having said that, spectators saw this as the best exhibition of bike handling in history.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

once i was in my bike at 100kph (+-), while going uphill. beyonce was falling, but i just came past her at high speed (for me it's regular speed) and grabbed her, saving her life. unfortunately my clothes were destroyed in the process and the physical attraction and desire became obvious. with my amazing handling and sexual skills, we did it right there, on top of my bike. luckily, i am not only hot, i am also super strong. she was crazy... she was loving it but she was shaking and screaming and telling me to keep going. it was an hell of an exercise. at the end i cried. she said that she wanted to see me again, but i know that she only wants sex. all women want sex with me, but i want something more........ having said that, spectators saw this as the best exhibition of bike handling in history.

what a story!

 

[sublimit]

once i was in my bike at 100kph (+-), while going uphill. beyonce was falling, but i just came past her at high speed (for me it's regular speed) and grabbed her, saving her life. unfortunately my clothes were destroyed in the process and the physical attraction and desire became obvious. with my amazing handling and sexual skills, we did it right there, on top of my bike. luckily, i am not only hot, i am also super strong. she was crazy... she was loving it but she was shaking and screaming and telling me to keep going. it was an hell of an exercise. at the end i cried. she said that she wanted to see me again, but i know that she only wants sex. all women want sex with me, but i want something more........ having said that, spectators saw this as the best exhibition of bike handling in history.

This gives a whole new meaning to fantasy cycling or king of the mount(ains) Even Tom Boonen would struggle to match that performance.

 

[Kvinto]

Moment 1. The Beginnings.

At first i've heard about cycling in the middle/second half of 1990th due to such names as Andriy Tchmil and Serhiy Honchar but back then i couldn't become a proper cycling fan because of the lack of coverage and childish craziness about football (i was born in 1986 so i was about 10-12 then, the age when the only obstacle which could force us to stop playing football was a sunset). But at that time i already knew about existence of Paris - Roubaix (i've learned about PR before the Tour and perhaps it made an influence on me to become a classic fan in future), though over the next several years I thought that Tour of Flanders and Gent –Wevelgem is the same race

Moment 2. An Occasional Cycling Fan.

I think I had completed this level after watching the Tour de France 2003 – the first cycling race I followed on TV, though it was the only race I watched that year. Unfortunately I didn’t get to watch Giro, but I knew from the news that Yaroslav Popovych had podiumed and I was very proud because he is from the same region as me (he is from Drohobych, the native city of my father).

Moment 3. A Cycling fan.

Strange, but the moment, I’ve become a proper cycling fan was… the death of Marco Pantani , it made an impact and since 2004 I was watching all the major cycling events I got to see on TV. Pretty soon (I guess after Paris-Roubaix 2006, I found an episode on the railway crossing when Van Petegem, Hoste and Gusev were DSQ funny back then) I realized that first of all i am a classics fan.

Moment 4. Sport #1.

Though Cycling became one of my favourite sports, football had remained #1. At spring of 2009, on forum of one of the biggest football website of Ukraine in a part similar to local Café I made a thread “Paris – Roubaix. The road to hell 2009”. It was about history of the race with a little preview and of course I made it for fun. But it led to a different ending, because of this thread I got into one prediction game which I’m playing already 3 years. As it required more than watching only World Tour events I became following much more races and left football supporting (maybe rather became an occasional football fan). Cycling became a sport #1.

 

[jamiephillips]

When I was a small child I got some pleasure reading through all the sports results in the daily newspaper whether it was tennis, football, cycling, ice hockey or pretty much anything. Kind of a really odd thing to do for a kid but anyway i got inspired by reading about Robert Millar, Stephen Roche, Sean Yates standings on GC and stage results at the Tour and other races.

I remember reading the results in the back of a newspaper on the monday after the 1987 world championships, and having to do a double take when I saw that Roche had won!! (This was in the newsagents shop before I did my paper round! )

 

[LaFlorecita]

once i was in my bike at 100kph (+-), while going uphill. beyonce was falling, but i just came past her at high speed (for me it's regular speed) and grabbed her, saving her life. unfortunately my clothes were destroyed in the process and the physical attraction and desire became obvious. with my amazing handling and sexual skills, we did it right there, on top of my bike. luckily, i am not only hot, i am also super strong. she was crazy... she was loving it but she was shaking and screaming and telling me to keep going. it was an hell of an exercise. at the end i cried. she said that she wanted to see me again, but i know that she only wants sex. all women want sex with me, but i want something more........ having said that, spectators saw this as the best exhibition of bike handling in history.

I'm mostly fascinated by the fact that you were "in" your bike...

 

[c&cfan]

I'm mostly fascinated by the fact that you were "in" your bike...[/QUOTE

don't underestimate me.

 

[Benotti69]

Paris Roubaix '84. Sean 'King' Kelly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKhU9X2Hjbw

 

[Angliru]

With Andy Schleck being your Jesus

I upchucked a bit in my mouth upon reading that!

 

[Angliru]

Never actually watched that before. From all the hype I assumed some sort of epic 800m solo attack. Bit surprised to see Vino was simply part of a genuine breakaway and did no work at all in the final km. Not exactly the attack mad cretin the reputation suggests.

It was more than just the win in a time/era where a rider from a breakaway rarely is successful, it was the circumstances that led up to it. Vino was behind Leipheimer in the gc by seconds going into the final stage. Through his own determination he was able to steal the bonus seconds needed to tie himself with Leipheimer inspite of Leipheimer and his Gerolsteiner's team's efforts to stop him. Then to take the stage and snatch Leipheimer's spot in the gc was simply awesome to witness. I guess you'd have to watch the entire stage.

 

[Angliru]

I can honestly never say I liked him

I was always devestated when jan lost. SOmething about LA I never liked, even in my niave days. dope what ?

Even though I admired Armstrong and marvelled at his exploits, I eventually identified more with Jan and began rooting for him. I grew tired of all the pastry jokes, fat jokes and "Jan's lazy" comments likely due to the fact that he seldom had an unkind word to say about anyone. He was just a normal guy who seemed to just happen to be extremely talented at this sport. I was rooting for Jan, Joseba and Iban to somehow humble Armstrong. Of course it never happened but joy of joys, Armstrong came out of retirement thinking he had another Tour win in the bag only to have the repeated image of Contador dancing away from him up a mountain to haunt him for the rest of his days.

 

[pastronef]

To be honnest I can really remember. My earliest cycling memory was watching Big Mig take a bottle illegally in the Tour (I guess that was 1996).

it was the stage to Les Arcs, when Miguel cracked in the cold and rain. he took a bottle from the Gewiss team car i guess, he had his full gloves on. One of the few races I really suffered to watch

my first memory? maybe the Stuttgart 1991 WC