It's getting close! TdFrance picks!

Man, I finally got off my act together and DL'd the British version with Sean Kelly. Each stage is a full, uncut, 5-6 hours long video. I'll miss Phil & Bob, but this beats the snot out of the heavily edited down coverage they allow us to see in the US. And in 1080 no less... Corsica looks like paradise. This is a stunning, beautiful event when you uncork it and let it breathe a bit. Traditional TV networks are doomed.

 

I need details please. Downloaded how? From where? How much? On TV or computer?
signed, computer lingo ignorant

Oh, and yesterdays stage was bad ass! A dog and one second win! EPIC!!

 

Hey DM, sure thing. There's a few steps to go through if you haven't torrented before, but it's pretty painless and once you're set up, there's no end to the things you can find and download.

First install a torrent client, like "Bittorrent" on Windows or "Transmission" on Mac. Google em and install. These are universal clients that will download torrents from anywhere on the web.

Then go to: http://www.cyclingtorrents.nl/brows...france+2013&_by=0&cat=0&incldead=0&language=0

...and sign up as a member (free, but necessary).

This is a directory of files. Click on the file listing you want, and download the "Torrent file". This is a small text file that gets saved to your computer. After you save it, click it, and it will launch your client and ask you to add the files to your download list. Click add, and watch the files come cruising on in.

Once they're done, leave them there for at least a couple weeks, to help others download theirs. If you don't, your speed will be penalized going forward.

Somewhat unfortunately, if you're just signing up today, it's standard definition (no HD) downloads only for 30 days. Though, by next tour you'll be good to go for all the HD stuff. Actually, they manage to upload just about every major race in the world, so there's a continual flow of stuff between now and then to choose from. All the classics, everything. Quite useful.

I watch these on my second 30" monitor while I'm working, and it feels like being there. But I don't have a TV. The guys who are into TV's and getting them to play computer files spend a ton of time trying a million things to transcode and convert files, to get it all working with special hardware etc etc etc... that's a huge ball of wax I don't have the patience for. Hope this helps!

 

Or you can get the NBC Sport Ntwork Tour app. On i-tunes for $14.99. All the stages live without commercials or interest stories. Plus you can watch any stage in its full length on demand from the app for up to a full year.

 

Hey Vlad, did they actually get it to work this year? I've been buying official streaming access since its been offered, but have had to rely on torrents to see stage finishes anyway. Seems they underestimate the server load, cause the stream always drops out 2/3 of the way through any given stage and then can't reconnect.

This year I decided I'd rather see the whole thing uninterrupted, staggered by a day. Less jumping up and down screaming.

 

Thanks Gents, I'm turning off my cable today--the reception is unreliable and I can't believe the pricing and don't watch enough TV to justify the expense. Plus, that will give me more $$ to buy bike stuff that I don't really need...

 

It works great for me. Hook the Ipad to the TV and its HD quality. You can also watch it on Steephill for free but the 14.99 app wasn't too bad.

 

WOW! Thanks guys. I wish I'd known about this earlier. But yeah, next year for the Tour and all. Plus, I'd love to dump my cable/Dish carrier and just get local channels. I'm nervous service will suck though. Any advise on that?

 

Never had an issue last year and same this year. Works great. I watch it on my ipad. Sometimes I watch it both on TV and ipad, using the ipad just during commercials on TV. Or if i miss a stage in the morning I can watch the full replay later on. No performance issues.

 

Off topic reply: Wife and I dumped cable a little over a year ago, maybe longer. Local channels with the right antenna are perfectly clear since they are sent digitally now. I just purchased another $40 antenna at Walmart for my office and it works perfectly there too. I'd say a roku/AppleTV/WinTV or some other box with Netflix and Hulu would get you most of the things you want to watch. That and maybe some sort of Ipad or related tablet that can be plugged into the TV to make the viewing experience better. What you save monthly on your bill can be added to things like NBC Tour at $14.99 or some extra movies per month through Amazon. Keep in mind that if you have an Amazon Prime account, they also have a digital streaming service for free that gets you some things. The only real negative side of dumping cable is losing live sports through ESPN and other related channels. You also lose the crap channels like E and Bravo and whatever else is in that waste my time category.

 

Wait the live version is dumbed down? I am not sure what is missing except for during commercials.

 

I love that they're making such a big deal about how the UCI just approved last week the prototype campy integrated brakes on this teams TT bikes, with dimpled aero surfaces etc, and how high tech all this cutting edge stuff is...

and while they're talking about it, I see the the guy leading the paceline has a shiny, 30 year old, say-your-prayers Delta brake bolted onto his fork.



That's a fast brake. ...barely slows you down at all! Pretty boss.

 

Is there a cheaper and less complex way of watching these stages ?

=)

Thanks.

 

This is live every morn. Not HD, but free and not complex. If you use AdBlockPlus in the Chrome browser you wont get all the ads. DONT get the "special desktop ap" or pay for anything. Dont click on anything but the link ( sometimes there are three or five differnt "links" , some are different language.) You can close out the overlay windows by clicking the lil red X. http://firstrowus.eu/sport/others.html

 

OK is it just me or is Froome and Sky just too good to be true.....

Holding a ferocious tempo on most of the climbs today, and then riding away from ALL of the rest of the contenders without any noticable suffering, while, Contador, Evans, Schleck and others were barely surviving and clearly suffering. As they are saying, if a performance is too good to be true it probably is. Last time someone dominated the peloton like that was a team from the US with a certain Texan leading it.

I do very much think the peloton is racing alot cleaner today and that the worst days of doping are over as evidenced by the suffering of the GC contenders today. But is Sky going to F it up again.... i hope not.

 

Most people who follow racing have been rolling their eyes since last years SKY dominance but today was a joke. SKY is making a mockery of this sport and cycling fans are tuning out in droves.

 

Well it's interesting if you think back over the years... in hind sight, the doping made these guys appear to be super-heroes. They could look incredible day after day. The thing you really notice over the last couple of years is how almost of these top GC guys now appear to be mortal. There's a limit to what they can do, they don't seem to bounce back quite as well after a hard day, etc, etc. Today was interesting... all the contenders looked mortal except for Team Sky.
Makes you wonder.

On other notes: Tired of Cavandish already. What a big baby. Is he great??? well, kinda... but then there's Sagan who's right there with him, and Sagan can climb pretty well too.
Poor Vande Velde, dude is seriously unlucky. How many tours has he crashed out of?

 

Read on some of the cycling sites (cyclingnews.com, veloclinic, etc): Froome's power output todsy was higher that Lance Armstrong's on the same exact climb in 2001. On the official climb to the KOM his time was only 7 seconds behind that Armstrong did in 2001 on the same exact segment.

And as for consistency, Tour of Oman, Dauphine, etc. This guy has been peaking the entire year.

 

I watched that big crash on Stage 5 and the guy that caused it was near the front of the peloton and just let off the gas. Basically backed right into the guy behind him and caused a bunch of guys to go down. Not sure who it was but it was messed up.

 

Watched with great interest today and Team Sky, uhm, I hate to say it but how can they be that much better then everyone else, 1-2 in the stage with Porte only holding back a bit due to strategy purposes; also kind of killed the excitement of the rest of the Tour unless Contador eats a ton of that Spanish meat like last time; Cadel is done, Scheck is done and Van Garderan (spelling?) what happened to him today; someone said it earlier but this very much looked like the year or to when Lance and his team were super dominant and crushed everyone in the Climbing stages; at least Wiggo last year did not quite look as dominating in the climbs