This is driving me nuts. I've tried Google, tried everything. No luck.

Can someone please tell me who recorded the title music for Channel Four's eighties Tour de France programmes? You know the one - with the tune from Frere Jacques towards the end. I don't think it's Kraftwerk - certainly not the usual version of their 'Tour De France'.

There are those who think Pete Shelley (huh?) wrote it, but this seems a bit unlikely.

Tim

PS In the course of my serach I came across this gem of a site: http://www.tv.cream.org/ Try looking up The 'Adventure Game' and 'That's Life'.

[This message was edited by Tim Jones on TUESDAY 11 November 2003 at 00:12.]

Crickey! I can't answer your question, but - we still had that tune in the lead in for our Tour Highlights package here in NZ on Sky (the Phil Ligget package - I think from your TV 4)until the 2002 Tour!! It's funny - cos it does sound a lot like Frere Jacques at the end (I always thought that too) - but not quite the same!

Weird Question Jonsey - weird tune too! And weird that you think of it as 80s - and we had it here in the 90s and early 2000s!!

PS: I'm off for 3 x 20 min hill repeats up Mountain Road in our Waitakere Ranges now. Should be fun - NOT!

Richie T

While not directly - or remotely - on topic, I will use the excuse of Richie's training postscript to mention that I have just (i.e. 30 minutes ago) finished my first ride over 100km. Woo hoo! (as the young people say).

Ross

It was Pete Shelley.

Here's one link...

BTW Richie, how're the ribs? Still on course for the Triathlon?

nick.lees at btinternet.com

Ross -

I have two words for you:

1. Pasta
2. Pasta

Well done. 100 miles is just a whisper away.

Triathlon - bah!

Tim

Well done Ross! Legend! If your're ever over here in NZ with your bike let me know and I'll take you on one of my 100km loops. I won't take you up Mountain Road - man that hurt last nite!

Nick - all on target for the World Tri Champs in December (thanks for asking) - only 3 weeks to go now. The broken ribs stopped me running for 4 weeks and swimming for 5 weeks - and I have a rather obvious lump sticking out of my rib-cage which I get to keep for the rest of my life. However, I continued to ride throughout and am now in my best ever time-trialling form. Did a 56 min 40km bike split during a triathlon on the weekend. Swimming is going ok now (19 mins for 1500M) - and my running has always been useless, so no change there. So I'll be at the start line fit and ready!

Tim - you aren't one of those snobby Roadies are you? Don't forget that triathlon has done a lot for the sport of cycling - particularly time-trialling. And besides, I remove the disc, Hed3s and the aerobars etc from the Trek and road race in the Winter - so I'm really one of your club too!

Richie T

Richie -

Yes, I am

The thing about tri-guys is that:

a) They can't climb hills longer than 1km or steeper than 1 in 20

b) They clearly have a thing about wetsuits.

Tim

You Roadie snobs are so easy to pick - with your laid back seat post tubes and upper bodies withered away (toothpick arms etc etc).

In defence of triathletes, I did 3 x 4 km hill repeats on Tuesday night up the longest/steepest road in Auckland. I also do at least 1 ride a week of 3.5-4 hours non-stop hills in our Waitakere Ranges - so I consider myself quite good in the hills and more importantly consider hills (and lot of 'em) imperative for good time trialing. So not sure on your theory Jonsey- perhaps it is just UK triathletes who are not flash in the hills. I can assure you that Hamish Carter and other leading triathletes here in NZ fly up hills.

Remember also that Lance was a triathlete - and not bad in the hills (these days at least). Why not come over here some time and I'll take you on a 4 hour ride in the hills with some of my triathlon mates - to test your theory. The last time I did hills with some roadies here I had great pleasure listening to them pop, one by one...

You're probably right about the wetsuit thing - I just love how I look in rubber!

Richie T

These days I'm having increasing respect for triathletes. I used to think they were just guys who were too big to be either runners or cyclists, so did both and added in swimming where being big is an advantage (I recently met Grant Hackett who I could only make eye contact with if I stood on someone else's shoulders). This was certainly true of most of the serious triathletes I used to run with (even if they wouldn't admit it). While Lance Armstrong was a successful triathlete, most of the guys in the pro peloton (apart from Jan Ullrich) are probably too tiny to do anything but cycle.

However, having now tried to run after a long bike ride, I realise just how difficult it is to go from one discipline to another within seconds, when your muscles are completely burned out from the previous event. I find it very difficult to run even the next day after cycling, when the quads are feeling like cement. I also don't know how you find the time to train for three disciplines when it is hard enough to do one. Until my injury earlier in the year, I was struggling to find ten hours a week just to run, so I don't know how you can double or triple that as well as work.

The only problem with triathlons (which I'd have a go at if I could swim; an inability not cured by having grown up on Bondi Beach) is that you have to put ugly aero bars on your bike and then ride it in your speedos.

Richie, it's also impressive that you have gotten back into running form after a four week break, since that would normally reduce your running base to pretty close to zero. If I'm ever in NZ with my bike (not an impossibility) I will certainly take up your invitation, although with an impressive time like 56 mins for 40k, you will have to go easy on me.

Ross
(Who, on a group ride last week, was actually teased for not having shaved his legs!)

Ross -

Can I just say that I'm very, very disappointed in you.

PS Where do you ride and who with?

Colnago Man

quote:

---

Can I just say that I'm very, very disappointed in you.

---

Is it about my hairy legs?

quote:

---

PS Where do you ride and who with?

---

I've joined a regular ride of about 20-30 guys who meet every saturday morning outside a bike shop at Lane Cove in Sydney, and head north (including about 20 nerve-wracking kilometres on the Pacific Highway, probably Sydney's busiest highway), into some bushland on the outskirts of the city, places like Galston Gorge and Bobbin Head (if you are at all familiar with Sydney), with some very steep and technical descents (in which I am usually the last to the bottom) followed by some equally steep and long climbs, all through some very pretty areas, once we're away from the highway. The pace is good - about 25-30km/h on average - but not too tough. I'm planning to join a club as well; my local club, the Sydney Cycling Club has a reputation for arrogance and ferocity so it sounds just about right.

Otherwise, when I'm riding alone, I will take an indirect 10-20km ride to Centennial Park, which has a 4km bike loop, and do faster laps, and then ride home, either directly (a 5km ride) or taking the scenic route past a few beaches or along the harbour.

Ross

Nice posts Ross!

Yep - the time thing training over 3 disciplines is a pain. I feel constantly tired these days. I manage 3 or 4 swims, 3 or 4 bikes and 3 runs a week, and easy/rest days on Monday and Friday. Swims (usually Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) range from 3 - 7 kms per session (1-2 hours), my rides are all longish - a 100km plus ride on Saturday(with say 6 x 5mins intense effort intervals thrown in the middle), a long hilly 4 hour plus ride on Sunday and a 3 hour easy mid-week spin after work of around 80kms or so. I run Tuesday , Thursday and off the bike on Sunday (lovely after 4 hours hill riding!).

I'm looking forward to the Winter when I will train solely for bike racing (maybe also swim twice during the week) and not run at all - what a luxury that will be!! Even 6 or 7 rides per week will be easy compared with 9 - 11 sessions now. It's the running that really knocks you around! Swimming saps energy but doesn't leave you sore. The cycling is the bit I find easiest - and enjoy most. It doesn't beat you up - and you can ride back to back days without a worry! I envy the Jones Boy!

Keep up your training - and shave those legs! It just looks better (feels better too).

What is your weekly training regime Tim? And which Colnago do you ride?

Richie T

Rich -

Depends what time of year. At the moment I'm taking it fairly easy with just one long hilly ride (anywhere between 65 and 100 miles) a week, with two or three shorter (30-40 mile), more intense rides.

On the long days I try to keep the pace deliberately low (HR down around 60% - average around 20mph), while on the shorter rides I stretch my legs a bit more and try to average more around 25mph.

Then as we get into February and March I will try to ride more in preparation for the racing season, doing longer and more intense intervals (a turbo trainer helps with these). I find the more 'base miles' you put in during the winter, and the easier you take it while riding them the better your specific race training is.

Then I hope to start racing in April, target some of the hiller courses (I'm a bit of a climber) and hopefully earn enough points to move from fourth cat (the lowest of the low in the UK) to third.

At the moment I'm riding a Colnago C40 (carbon doesn't rust...), but am saving for a C50.

Tim

Tim

I agree with your training methodology. Apart from my intervals one session a week (or races) all my rides are long and slow - even in the hills. Gotta have that base before the putting the icing on the cake etc etc.

C40! Lovely. C 50 - even better. I hope you don't use it on the turbo trainer!!

My Carbon Trek 5500 OCLV is very much a poor relation to the C 40 or 50 - but it's plenty good enough for me - and with triathlon I rate wheels as more important. I race on Hed 3's and use a Hed disc on flat courses. I will road race on Mavic Cosmos this season -and if I get into it - will upgrade these - or borrow my wife's Campy Protons or Hed Alps.

I have a separate bike set up full time on the indoor trainer and do all my outdoor training rides on a KHS Flite 2000 bike. I like having the race bike absolutely pristine - it's only done around 600km and is 18 mths old! But what a difference to jump on for race day!

Good luck on geting to Cat 3!!

Richie T

quote:

---

My Carbon Trek 5500 OCLV is very much a poor relation to the C 40 or 50

---

Richie, do you really think that's true? Have you ridden a C40?

I have just bought a 5500 (having traded in my 1500 after a couple of months) and gave a lot of thought to spending a lot more on something like a C40, a De Rosa King, A Pinarello Prince SL, Merckx, Team SC or other exotic frame (leaving aside the fact that I am not yet a strong enough rider to justify owning any of these bikes). I went with the Trek (aside from knowing that it was a good fit) because the Trek service and warranty are excellent, whereas the Italian frame-makers seem to offer little in the way of warranty, yet charge nearly twice the price for a similar product. I actually doubt that the Trek is an inferior frame at all (just ask Lance), it's only that - like the Giant carbon frame, which I was also considering - they make it in vastly larger quantities than the Italian manufacturers and so can sell them at much lower prices. True, the Trek name doesn't have the cachet of a Colnago or Pinarello, but do you really want to pay several thousand dollars extra just for that name? I have found, in riding with a group whose bikes range from 20 year old steel bikes with downtube shifters, to Pinarellos and Merckxs, that the Trek 5500 is not regarded by cyclists as anyone's poor relation and, as always, how you ride it talks louder than the name on your bike.

Incidentally, at your level of competition, three runs a week is not nearly enough. No wonder you're struggling on the run leg. You should be running at least 100km a week, at least 6 days a week.

Ross

Ross

You're up early!

The Trek is awesome - if it wasn't I wouldn't have one - trust me! If I thought something else was better - i would get it, regardless of the cost. I have NZ$ about 60,000 worht of bikes and wheels sets in my garage. I would quibble about spedning extra on a frame if I thought it was worthwhile.

Apologies if you thought I was not rating the Trek! What I really meant was that a true "Roadie" like Tim would probably go for a C 40 over a Trek - if only for the reasons you have noted. And Tim will no doubt also point to things like the C 40s "springier" feel (some "roadies" have suggested the Trek has a slightly "dull" or dead feeling). I haven't ridden a C40 but have ridden steel and Aluminium bikes - and for my part the Trek is very "alive" and responsive. And as you say - if it's good enough for Lance.

And I'm on my second OCLV bike now -the one I bought in 1995 had a cable guide detach! And I got a new frame in 2002 just for that minor problem!!! So the back-up and warranty is simply tremendous!

My wife has the latest Litespeed Vortex (complete with Campy record carbon 10 speed) and my bro rides a Litespeed Palmares - both hideously expensive bikes! I have had the opportunity to get these frames but have chosen to stick with my Trek.

One mate of mine (a true roadie) finally gave up his Bianchi for a Trek - and has never looked back. Don't let anyone tell you that you are riding anything other than a fantastic bike. Other bikes are different - not better. Yours is a "no excuse/no compromise" machine worthy of carrying riders at the highest level.

You are probably right about the running (my wife runs 5 or 6 times per week and around 80km) - but what you don't know is that I was born with 2 very severe "club feet" (bilateral tallepes (sp?)). When I was born I had no heels, about one-third the normal amount of calf muscle and severe pidgeon toe-edness. After 6 major surgeries before the age of 10 and missing many joints in my ankles (removed) and still very weak calf muscles, I find running bio-mechanically very challenging for me. I have no "spring" in my ankles and pretty much "shuffle" relying on hip-flexor "lift" rather than ankle spring. My doctors cannot believe I run at all - let alone have completed an Ironman. The reality is that I shouldn't really be running - as it causes me pain in my ankles, and also my knees, hips and back. It took me almost 2 years to "get over" Ironman in 1996!! Usually I do very little running training in the tri season and rely on my swimming and biking to see me through - and just "wing it" on the run. This is possible for anything up to Olympic distance racing (10km run). However, after qualifying for the World Tri Champs I thought it was worth making at least some effort to do a bit of running training. But 3 runs a week (one 60 minute, a 40 mintue and a 20 minute) is the absolute most I can do - any more and I will break down entirely.

It is of course a major frustration for me - because in terms of swimming and biking I actually rate with our local elite/pro athletes and often lead the race off the bike. However, my competitors run close to 30 mins off the bike (for 10 km) - and the quickest I can manage is around 48 minutes. In my race on the weekend, the guys I came off the bike slightly ahead of, went on finish 3rd and 5th respectively in around 1 hour 53 mins. I came home in 2 hour 8! Ouch!

It's such a bummer - because everyone else in my family (my Dad and Brother) are great runners! When I race my wife in a non-drafting Olympic tri I usually come off the bike 10 mins ahead of her and she still passes me on the run!

Nevetheless I still finish in the upper part of the field overall, and take great pleasure in mixing it with the Elites on the swim-bike (oh to have a race consisting of just that!). My goals for this season are to complete the Worlds and perform well on the swim and bike legs (we get splits in the results - thanks goodness) - then do the Tauranga half Ironman one last time and see how I go on the 2 km swim - 90 km cycle against the big boys! the 21 k run will be fun (NOT)! After that I will go back to the balance of our local tri season and my minimal running thing - as otherwise I fear for my long term health (in terms of arthritis, sore ankles, hips, back etc etc). You can see now why I am looking forward to a winter of road racing, swimming and no running!!!

Next season I'll just go back to doing triathlons without much running training - without the pressure of representing one's country at World Champs etc. Soon I will stop triathlons altogether and just race bikes and do masters swimming carnivals etc. Hell, if we ever have kids I won't even manage that - so enjoy it while one can say I!

Richie T

[This message was edited by Richie T on THURSDAY 13 November 2003 at 20:43.]

Richie, all I can say is that I'm even more impressed by your triathlon achievements given the bio-mechanical issues you have with running. Doing an Ironman event must have been torture on the run leg. The last 10k of a marathon are torture for anyone - I'm amazed you even started let alone finished.

Ross

...but more importantly Ross - are you enjoying your new bike?? Big difference over the 1500 I expect?

Richie T

Yes, I am. The difference from the 1500 is not as dramatic as I expected, because the geometry is of course the same. The bike is clearly lighter, and the ride is noticeably smoother, but the differences are more evident once I've gotten off the bike after 2 or 3 hours in the saddle. The new Dura Ace is also a big improvement over Ultegra. I don't notice the extra gear, but the shifting is much faster and tighter.

I'm still hankering to get back to running, though, but the hamstring just won't heal.

Ross

Richie,

I see you made page 9 of the Triathlon results (which sounds pretty good to me), but who's this Tracey who beat you ?

nick.lees at btinternet.com