July 06, 2011
Today's favorite Tour Twitterers
I'm working on an updated survey of all the Tour Twitterers worth following, but I wanted to give a nod to five who have already really added to my enjoyment of this year's Tour.
- Craig Lewis, HTC-Highroad - Lewis is home recuperating from a crash at the Giro d'Italia. His loss has been our gain so far, as he's tweeting very actively, and giving a rider's perspective on stage tactics
- Mark Cavendish, HTC-Highroad - Cav the Twitterer is like Cav the rider: brash and ready to go at the drop of a hat
- The Inner Ring - Twitter feed for The Inner Ring weblog
- Gerard Vroomen - The cofounder of Cervelo bikes has an interesting perspective, especially given Garmin-Cervelo's success so far this year
- TdFLanterne - It's been a treat to watch @TdFLanterne morph from her single-purpose weblog to snarky crusader
Posted by Frank Steele on July 6, 2011 in Mark Cavendish, Top Stories, Tour Tech, Web/Tech, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 17, 2009
Leipheimer exits Tour, shares surgery via Twitter
A lot has been said about the use of social media in this year's Tour de France, but today we really saw it in action. I happened to wake up at about 4:30 a.m., and checked in on my Twitter stream on the iPhone.
I saw several tweets about Levi Leipheimer's wrist fracture, including one about 15 minutes old from Lance Armstrong, with a picture of Leipheimer in his cast.
Then, during the stage today, Leipheimer was actually Twittering from the operating room, including photos of the man himself on the operating room table, of the preparation of his wrist, and of the final X-ray, showing his 22mm titanium screw in place.
Here's a screen shot of the whole exchange.
All of this was straight from the riders involved, and within minutes of it actually happening. It's a brave new world, kids.
Also:
CNET News | Twitter takes the Tour de France on new course
Posted by Frank Steele on July 17, 2009 in 2008 Stage 12, Levi Leipheimer, Top Stories, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 13, 2009
Leader 1: Now you're Bjarne Riis
Wired.com | Leader 1 is the Tour de France in Your Living Room
Over at Wired's Geek Dad weblog, Jonathan Liu, reviews Leader 1, a game published in 2001 that simulates bike racing on a reconfigurable “Game of Life”-style track. The road segments can be rearranged to set up different race courses, including a track finish in a velodrome, with the color beside the road denoting the slope of the that part of the course.
The game puts you in control of up to 3 riders, and you have to use the energy levels of your team to put one of your riders across the line first.
Liu's verdict: “If you’re a cycling fan and you want to play a truly incredible board game about bikes, you should check out Leader 1.”
Also:
Ghenos Games | Leader 1, also showing a pink Giro d'Italia variant
CyclingBoardGames.net | LEADER 1
BoardGameGeek | Leader 1 - Including details on the “Leader 2” variant, with new rules to make the game more realistic. There's also a Leader 3 variant with doping controls. I kid you not.
Posted by Frank Steele on July 13, 2009 in About the Tour, Games, Links, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 07, 2009
Tour de Twitter
This is the third Tour de France I've Twittered. In 2007, it was pretty lonely. Last year, we had a core group of fans using the service. This year, Twitter has exploded. Lance Armstrong has been one of the top celebrities to adopt Twitter, alongside Stephen Fry, Ashton Kutcher (I almost typed “Astana Kutcher”), and Barack Obama.I've developed quite a list of riders, journalists, bloggers, and photographers in preparation for the Tour, and thought I would share it with you.
I started with Carlton Reid's massive, 600+ strong list of “Bike Trade Tweeps”. As I've found more, I've been adding them. I left off a few that appear inactive, like @carlossastre, who has nearly 4,000 followers awaiting his first tweet (what pressure!); likewise Denis Menchov and Robert Gesink, and a few fakes.
Also, these are all in English. Please send me additions, either on Twitter (@TdFblog) or by commenting this post. Thanks!
Riders/Teams
Astana
- @TeamAstana : The official team ID
- @lancearmstrong : The 7-time Tour winner
- @johanbruyneel : Team director Johan Bruyneel
- @levileipheimer : Levi Leipheimer (He finally lost the underscore)
Garmin-Slipstream
- @TeamSlipstream : The official team Twitter feed
- @Vaughters : Team Director Jonathan Vaughters (Newly unshackled from the official team Twitter ID)
- @dzabriskie : David Zabriskie
- @christianvdv : Christian Vande Velde
- @Bradwiggins : Bradley Wiggins
- @thedpate : Danny Pate
- @allencolim : Team physiologist Allen Lim
Columbia-HTC
- @TeamColumbiaHTC : Team updates
- @ghincapie : George Hincapie
- @mickrogers : Michael Rogers
- @markrenshaw1 : Mark Renshaw
- @isleofmanhood : “Cav” (??)
Silence-Lotto
- @cadelofficial : Cadel Evans
- @wegelius: Silence-Lotto's Charlie Wegelius, author of my two favorite rider tweets of the Tour so far
Cervelo Test Team
- @cervelotestteam : Official team feed
- @carlos_sastre : Carlos Sastre
- @bdlancaster : Brett Lancaster
Quick Step
- @stevendejongh : Steven De Jongh
Skil-Shimano
- @Fumybeppu : Ex-Discovery rider Fumy Beppu
- @koendekort : Koen de Kort
Saxo Bank
- @fschleck : Frank Schleck
- @andy_schleck : Andy Schleck
- @kaarvesen : Kurt-Asle Arvesen
Rabobank
- @laurenstendam : Laurens Ten Dam
Press
- @bicyclingmag : Official Bicycling feed
- @julietmacur : NYTimes Tour reporter Juliet Macur
- @velonews : VeloNews official feed
- @cyclingweekly : Cycling Weekly
- @cyclesportmag : UK's CycleSport magazine
- @cyclingnewsfeed : CyclingNews official feed
- @neilroad : Neil Browne of ROAD Magazine
- @eurohoody : Andrew Hood of VeloNews
- @rupertguinness : Australia's Rupert Guinness
- @johnwilcockson : VeloNews correspondent emeritus
- @bonnie_d_ford : Bonnie D. Ford, ESPN's Tour reporter
- @jeremyschaap : Jeremy Schaap, ESPN reporter
VS broadcasters
- @vscycling : the official feed of the US Tour TV network
- @philliggett : Phil Liggett
- @paulsherwen : Paul Sherwen
- @bobkeroll : Head schlug Bob Roll
- @h2o007 : Craig Hummer
- @RobbieVentura : Robbie Ventura
Photographers
- @GWcom : Graham Watson
- @lizkreutz : Liz Kreutz, who's been photographing Lance Armstrong's comeback
- @kwc - Ken Conley of Spare Cycles
Pros not racing this year
- @allandavis27 : Allan Davis, the 181st rider in the 2009 Tour
- @ivanbasso : Ivan Basso
- @hornerakg : Chris Horner
- @robbiehunter : South African sprinter Robbie Hunter
- @mcewenrobbie : Katusha's Robbie McEwen
- @janibrajkovic : Astana's Jani Brajkovic
Bloggers
- @TdFblog : That's me!
- @cyclingfans - Pete Geyer of CyclingFans
- @cyclelicious - Fritz at Cyclelicious
- @steephill - Steve from Steephill.TV<
- @_gavia_ - Gavia from Steephill.TV
- @bikehugger - Main feed for Bike Hugger
- @TDFLanterne - Nancy Toby's TdF Lanterne Rouge
- @lambsimon - Simon Lamb of La Gazzetta dello Bici
- @cyclingfansanon - cycling fans anonymous.com
- @cyclocosm - Cosmo from Cyclocosm
Posted by Frank Steele on July 7, 2009 in About the Tour, Andy Schleck, Bradley Wiggins, Cadel Evans, Carlos Sastre, Chris Horner, Christian Vande Velde, Danny Pate, Dave Zabriskie, George Hincapie, Ivan Basso, Janez Brajkovic, Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, Mark Cavendish, Michael Rogers, Robbie Hunter, Robbie McEwen, Tour news, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack