Time Trialling

Watching sport on TV has never been my thing - the Olympics occasionally had it's moments and I gained a new appreciation for the medium during the past two fitba' world cups, but probably only because they happened to be played in a relatively close time zone.  Only once, when in Canadia, did the Tour de France happen on a watchable hour and I really couldn't get the interest up - however, unemployment has it's advantages and I think this could be the year I make an effort to follow this event.  It doesn't hurt that I participate in the sport to some extent - for me riding will always first and foremost be about personal transport but it is an amazing and enjoyable sport and one that I have some ability to follow.  For some reason I'm mightily disappointed that the "drug cheat" Floyd Landis is notably absent from this year's race - there are plenty of contenders, of course, for patriotic reasons, it'd be nice to see an Australian take it, but it's highly unlikely.  I'm not Lance Armstrong's biggest fan but he certainly seems to be a Tour de France winning machine and as someone once told me, he hasn't returned to compete - he's returned to win.  He probably shouldn't have found himself in the same team as the favourite - I think it's highly doubtful that he would work towards a victory for someone else no matter what platitudes he's mouthed over the past few days.
Watching three hours of time trials is an endurance event that am simply not capable of myself - especially when I was riding my own Calga time trial the next morning, but I did stay up to watch Lance's race and it's just depressing to see how good some of these riders are.  I know what it feels like pushing one's self to the limit on such a short course - to me, 15k is much worse than 160.  Did get a few tips from watching the professional's style that I tried to put into action the next morning - you've got to know when to step into the saddle and when to stay down, I also think it's wise to have more than two gears that work on your bike.