November 5, 2009
Hi Joe, winter is on the way and the trainer has made it’s appearance. I enjoy watching races while on the trainer (dvd or recorded off of Vs). Was curious on your opinion of top-ten races of all time….Tours, World Championships, Classics, etc.. I’d like to try and pick up a few on dvd for the trainer rides.
Kevin Bengtson - Minneapolis, MinnesotaWell Kevin, that's sort of a tricky question, since riding trainers indoors during the Minnesota winter is basically torture, for the most part. Sure, I could list off a whole bunch of beautiful and hard-fought bike races for you to dream about while you're sweating all over your basement floor, but that just might do you a disservice. Unfortunately too, so many of what I would call "the best races of all time" aren't available on DVD anywhere.
It's also really hard to pin down what the absolute best races were, since they all have some cool, redeeming qualities to them. My pick for the most amazing Tour de France ever is definitely Greg LeMond's 1989 8-second victory. Other than that, every race is pretty special.
For me, if you really want some motivation while you are suffering in solitude in a dank basement in the (612), (651), (763) or wherever you are, pick up a copy of any Paris-Roubaix ever ridden, but primarily the rainy ones. The Tour of Flanders works pretty well also. Heck, any of the classics will suffice since they are quite often raced under quite adverse conditions. Watching these racers suffer in the wind, rain, cold and cobblestone conditions might just lessen the pain and boredom you have to endure. Living where you do, you have quick access to Mr. Grady's fine cycling movies, of course, but I have also found a whole gaggle of stuff on YouTube. Now I know that you're never going to get fit watching 2 - 8 minute clips, but I've seen that there are races from the old days that you can purchase via some of the people who post these clips on YouTube.
When I lived in Minneapolis I spent many a mind-numbing session in my basement and the only thing that worked for me (before I got my CompuTrainer) was to stare at the wall and hope to have at least half of my brain shut down like that of a dolphin. Two 4-hour sessions on rollers with wind resistance is my record. I am pretty sure that I am only now recovering from that 8 hours of torture.
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8 Responses to “Hi Joe, winter is on the way and the trainer has made it’s appearance. I enjoy watching races while on the trainer (dvd or recorded off of Vs). Was curious on your opinion of top-ten races of all time….Tours, World Championships, Classics, etc.. I’d like to try and pick up a few on dvd for the trainer rides.”
For some insane riding conditions caught on dvd, try 2001 and 2002 Paris-Roubaix. I think ‘01 is Servais Knaven winning and ‘02 is Museeuw. Watch Nico Mattan pull the break for 30 miles or something like that. Tom Boonen 21 years old and in the winning break for 220kms…wild.
Sheesh, a four-hour roller session! If you don’t have “A Sunday in Hell” in your DVD collection, order it today. It’s a documentary of the 1976 Paris-Roubaix. I’ve always loved the film for the cinematography, drama and narration. But the music/soundtrack has become my favorite part. So many cycling DVDs are painful to watch because the soundtrack is dominated by pop music that did not age well.
I used to try watching the Simpson and King of the Hill while on the rollers.
The Simpsons is too funny to watch while on rollers, and I fell off from laughing.
Sunday in Hell unfortunately lacks enough race action. Too much bread and brie to ride rollers by for any extended period.
Jeez, Joe! 8 hours on the rollers!??? INSANE!
I’ve gotten through some trainer sessions watching Overcoming. Good movie.
An oddball pick for me is the 2005 Giro D’Italia, if you can find the DVD. The second win by Savoldelli. It sounds funny but I have a bunch of race DVD’s Tour de France, Roubaix and so on and I come back to that race for riding. There were lots of great stages where Basso, Savoldelli, Simoni, DiLuca and company battle. Sure there is obvious drug enhancement but where wasn’t there at the time? The tactics were neat, Il Falco (Savoldelli) flying down descents to gain back time, Simoni having Cunego set up his attacks but breaking at the last stage after giving his all. Even on nothing stages, I remember Christophe Le Mevel winning a stage by timing an attack on a break group just right.
Just a personally memorable race I have ridden many 35 minute trainer rides watching. Hours at a time on the trainer is for real competitors!
Lemond’s finish in Zurich ‘89 is epic. Also Sean K’s chase of Argentin at Milan- San Remo 1992 down the Poggio is awe inspiring as well.
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