Tour De France: Living the Dream

nockee

Stage 16 was 218.km long. In the world of the pathetic and desperate producers at Discovery, they magically turned the stage into approx 80 miles and magically cut off the 25 mile flats plus the Category 1 Col De Larrau.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tour_2007_-_16.PNG

They must have decided to lie to everybody and make it seem that this schlub they pulled off the street could compete with the Pro's and Michael Rasmussen's time. As I was watching this silly docudrama and these guys look like average double century guys at the back of the pack (I have no issue with that as I am middle of the pack at best double century rider). At this point, I have no criticism. Just a silly show. But near the end, they start saying this guy was only 45 minutes slower than the fastest pro's. I was thinking WTF are they smoking? Knowing how hard cores the winners of the L'Etape du Tour are often 45 minutes slower on the same stage as the Pro's, I had to look into this. Turns out that the Discovery Channel guys magically cut Stage 16 down from 218.5 KM to 123 KM to make their docudrama more interesting. A complete fraud and they lied through their teeth to make it "interesting"

"The Professional Winner of stage 16 finished the stage in 6:23. If Joe can continue this pace, he will finish just a half hour behind the pro time. An impressive time for an amateur rider".. the Discovery voice over says in the middle. At the end, they say how awesome it is that he finished stage 16 in 7 hrs and 17 minutes. Just 54 minutes off of the fastest time in the Tour De France. 99% of the morons who watch this would think, that wow... If I just work out a bit more than my 12 mile ride into work and back and get my VO2 max evaluated by Chris Carmichael I too, can almost compete with the Pros. The audacity to lie to everybody and make it seem that anybody could ever come with 45 minutes of Rasmussen's time on Stage 16!! There are probably 300 people in the US that could dream of doing that.
I watched this moron show fully expecting it to be full of stupidity, but to downright lie makes me sick. I wonder who on that team decided nobody would know if we cut close to 100K from the stage length. I mean... who would know? Who would care?

This is docudrama gone very bad. I expect these shows to be somewhat cheesy, but they should never lie. People need to know just how good the Pros are during this the toughest ride in the world. To lie about this is nothing less than pathetic.

Bro Deal

He rode 123 km (76 miles) in 7:17?? Was he dragging a wagon loaded with fifty pounds of Big Macs and Whoppers behind him?

This is freakin' hilarious. Their point mind have been better made if they had them ride the whole distance. It probably would have taken fourteen to fifteen hours.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Crankyfeet

That is seriously bad... Problem is.. nobody can really sue them... unless a person spends a year trying to become a pro as a result of this deception... and sues for misrepresentation.

So... we have the Man vs. Wild guy staying in hotels between shoots. Now this. I used to think Discovery Channel was about nature and the truth. Just a bunch of BS artists it seems... who get away with it because they're not slandering anyone.

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TheDarkLord

Suing is not the only way in which you can hit back though. The media is a powerful tool if you know how to use it. If someone is able to publish a set of articles through some influential magazine/TV on how this is a major fraud, you might a better result than suing them.

Frigo's Luggage

Yeah. But I still love Mythbusters. Smashlab sucks though.

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Crankyfeet

Good point. But we just have to become an employed journo first, then break the journalist omerta. Sometimes I am mystified by the lack of attention given to things like this. Its like... "Who cares... It's just a show".

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earth_dweller

yep. Dirty Jobs & MythBusters make me laugh. I turned off Smashlab about 15 minutes into the first episode, couldn't stand those guys.

nns1400

Believe half of what you read....and none of what you see...

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This stuff is just crap...Hitchy

TheDarkLord

Well, yeah! A good chunk of the media is just for reporting stories as sensationally as possible, and so probably don't care much about issues such as this one. But if someone is able to find some reporter who is willing to do a story on this (if not on TV, then on print in some magazine/paper which has good readership), then progress can be made. The question is whether there is anyone who really cares about this enough to take some time to look into debunking Disco's ass publically.

Eden

Interesting - my husband and I both like Mythbusters, but just like you Smashlab couldn't hold our attention. The hosts have 0 chemistry and 0 personality...., I also thought the show seemed a bit low on the actual science bit...

earth_dweller

agree, no chemistry, no enjoyment of the work. You can tell that the Mythbusters truly enjoy their stuff, don't mind looking silly, and are just having fun. The smashlab people want to come accross as scientists and well, they are not interacting between each other, so to summarize... boring.