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Morning Roundup: After the Snowfall Edition
As a competitive cyclist who mourned the postponement of this year's only professional race in the District, I was ecstatic, though slightly skeptical, to stumble acros the news this morning that organizers of the Giro d'Italia, one of the three grand tours of international cycling, were thinking of bringing the opening stages of the race to D.C..
According to quotes allegedly made by race Director Angelo Zomegnan to Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, Mayor Adrian Fenty, himself an avid cyclist, has pushed the idea. "For some time we have had the idea of holding the Giro's start in America. But now there exists a concrete interest from the city of Washington," Zomegnan told the Gazzetta, according to CyclingNews.com.
The three grand tours – the Giro, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana – often start in other countries. This year's Tour de France, for example, started in Monaco, while next year's Giro is slated to kick off in Amsterdam. The proposal for bringing Italy's biggest race to the District would likely come in 2011, and also include stages in New York and Philadelphia.
Like I said, I'm both ecstatic and skeptical. For fans of cycling, seeing a stage of a grand tour is like getting tickets to the Super Bowl – for free. But the Gazzetta article everyone is quoting is nowhere to be found online, and I'm doubtful that race organizers would want to deal with the grousing of close to 200 riders and their support staff over the eight-hour flight and six-hour time difference they'd all have to endure in the midst of one of the most physically taxing things a human can do to their body. And when we ran this by Mayor Fenty's office for confirmation, they responded, "First we've heard of it." They said they'd continue looking into it.
Once we get more solid confirmation from Fenty's office, we'll update.
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You can never have too many lycranauts or illegal immigrants. Put them together and you have a rich, delicious crotch funk sandwich that plays by its own rules. Oh, who will tame them?
monkeyrotica, are you chronically unfunny or did you at some point suffer brain damage?
i mean, the tour starting in monaco—no big deal. it's hardly another country, and it's surrounded by france.
italy's connection to DC? much, much more tenuous (culturally and geographically)
We have a Buca Di Beppo. And the country is named after an eyetalian. What more of a connection do we need?
well shit, kansas jack, you done proved me wrong!
Saying Monaco isn't in France is like saying the Vatican isn't in Rome, or D.C. isn't in Maryland. Technically, you may be correct, but logic tells a very different story.
did i say monaco isn't in france? i said it was surrounded by it (which it is). point out where my statement was wrong.
The last thing, LAST thing we need is another event tying up our public streets on a weekend. I'm ready to personally interrupt, with my vehicle, the next marathon, walk, parade, or bike race that prevents me from commuting, getting groceries, or otherwise moving about this city.
Metro doesn't work, why block our streets?
Ha ha typical DC driver, what is actually open and worth driving to downtown on a Sunday morning?
“Oh man, there’s a new Cosi at 15th and K that I’m just dying to try out for Sunday brunch!”
Heh...pwnd.
+1
I usually take the weekend road closures in stride, as an inevitable part of living in a large urban area with cultural/touristic/sporting events, marches, etc. For an unusual spectacle like the Giro d'Italia, I'd be happy to accept some travel inconvenience in exchange for the opportunity to witness it. If anything, the weekend metro maintenance is a bigger hassle than such events, as I use metro far more often than I drive.
That said, some of us in the private sector do actually work on weekends (and no, not at Cosi). I realize that's hard for some of the commentariat to comprehend...
I play hockey in Eastern Market at 9am on Sundays, riding my motorcycle from Silver Spring.
The hostility of drivers in the DC area never ceases to amaze me...maybe if the roads are closed and metro isn't working you should walk or ride a bike to where you want to go...what a novel idea!
In other news, if the stage isn't a prologue they implement rolling road closures and the inconvenience is negligible. The roads are completely open until the peloton is about 10-15 minutes away and then as soon as all the riders and support vehicles are through the sweep vehicles roll through and pick up all the barriers and signs...it is quite efficient if you have ever seen it.
It is only an inconvenience the community for 30 minutes or so. Isn't that worth anywhere from $500k to $1m for your community?
"The hostility of drivers in the DC area never ceases to amaze me...maybe if the roads are closed and metro isn't working you should walk or ride a bike to where you want to go...what a novel idea!"
Spoken like someone young, in good health, and within walking distance of all you need.
Turns out not everyone in DC is as fortunate as you.
Please try to keep that in mind when dispensing transportation advice to the masses.
You don't need to be young or healthy to ride a bike, but riding a bike will make you healthier and feel younger. There's no need for idiotic clothing or overexerting yourself. Just jump on a bike and ride.
I think it'd be awesome, and would rather watch a cycle race on Sunday morning than a bunch of cars driving past.
I'd take pictures and add them to the ones I have of the Olympic torch being carried past my front door. Good times. No cars in that shot, either.
If this happens, it might not be terribly disruptive.
Whenever the grand tours start outside their home country, it's often just for a prologue, which tends to be a very short stage often raced as an individual time trial. In the event that the Giro started in D.C., it would most likely involve only a few roads being shut down.
Now if they made it a road race it would be a different story, but even then you can have a rolling enclosure that would be much less disruptive than what they have for marathons.
I agree. These people should be kept in some kind of enclosure where they can be studied to find out exactly what what they're riding away from. Sounds suspicious to me. Then there's that whole "foreigner" thing which I don't like one bit. It's bad enough with all the NY expats complaining about the pizza. Just wait until these guys show up.
Hosting a stage of the Giro would be the coolest thing to happen in this city in a long, long time. I would love to see a bunch of the big names in cycling compete here.
However, I really have my doubts as to whether it is plausible or even desirable (from the race organizers point of view) to have the race here.
NB: This year the Tour de France visited no fewer than SIX different countries: France, Monaco, Spain, Andorra, Italy, and Switzerland. However, D.C. is more than just a bit out of the way.
What kind of insurance does the city have to take out for these kinds of events? Haven't we already suffered enough with Judge Roy Pearson's Tour de PANTS?
Wasn't the Obama inauguration the coolest thing in a long time? The teabagging party was pretty damn cool too! And those were just in 2009. You must have a short memory.
This would be a real shot in the arm for DC's burgeoning erythropoetin industry.
Great, more shitpickle bikers. Just what we need!!! Yay!!
Go back to TX kthx bye.
It couldn't possibly be more disruptive than that dumb ass Marine Corps Marathon a few weekends ago, which made it virtually impossible to get from D.C. to Virginia for much of the day, without going dozens of miles out of your way. Not that you'd want to go to Virginia all that much anyway, but still.
Alas, the Marine Corp Marathon was a breeze compared to the Nation's Triathalon in September. I can't remember the last time I ventured from the National Cathedral to Arlington by way of the Naval Surface Warfare Center.
I am skeptical about this proposal. However, I will fully endorse the event provided the feed bags given to riders contain chili half smokes . . . with hilarious results!!!
hey - contrary to popular opinion on this thread - it isn't only drivers who are inconvenienced by neverending downtown road closures. some of us live downtown, where our lives are totally disrupted by angry, honking suburban drivers leaning on their horns in frustration for hours on end while the roads are closed for strolling, running, biking or swimming throngs out for a cause - or in the case of the recent maddening bike-dc event, where 20-30 people lazily peddling and chatting shut down downtown for hours...