Tour de France : were you hooked too?

Wow – what a great TDF. Someone finally sat down with me and explained the rules and once you know what is going on it is fascinating to watch tactics and strategies being played out in ultra gruelling competitive conditions with the backdrop of one of the most (if not the most) beautiful countries in the world.

Hoogerland after the crash- shorts cut to ribbons by the barbed wire (click for full set)

A particular highlight was seeing Johnny Hoogerland get back on his bike after being catapulted through a barbed wire fence at 40mph by a maniac driving a TV car. Another cyclist Juan Antonio Flecha also was taken down and got back up. Hoogerland was lucky to be alive and had multiple deep lacerations across his body. The amazing thing is he got back on his bike and finished the race. That is tenacity, courage and desire not to let his team mates down and I don’t know of any sport where they are tougher. They should force every football player who writhes around in mock agony to watch a clip of the crash and then see Hoogerland get back on his bike. And then he gave the most magnanimous and sportsman like interview at the end of the race. While most of our sporting “heroes” would be spitting blood and retribution he was generosity itself. Hoogerland you are my sporting hero.

Andy Schlek - Click for a full set of pictures

Wow – I want a helmet cam….

The only thing is you have to be able to ski like this guy too……

http://vimeo.com/18705455

If only there was an olympic sport for this…

The case for making (a few) more mistakes..

Great article about a US former champion squash player, Victor Niederhoffer, that may have parallels with Murray. Niederhoffer looking back on his career he wished he risked more in his squash games and less in his investment choices (he went on to become a fund manager).

As a squash player, I was gifted. I had all the right things going for me. I practiced. I was very good with the racket, and I had tremendous anticipation. But I tended to play an errorless game by hitting a slice on my backhand, which took a lot of power off the ball. That wasn’t a disaster, but it was definitely a weakness in my game. My opponents always used to say that on a good day they could beat me, because they could hit more spectacular shots than me. But they never did. I went for about 10 years without losing a game, except to [the great Pakistani squash player] Sharif Kahn. He made about six, seven errors a game—but he also made eight or nine winners. I would make about zero errors per game but only one or two winners. He had the edge on me about 10-4, and I regret that I was never willing to accept the risky shots and confrontations, never willing to play a more error-full game.

Murray has grown up winning games by letting the other guy make the mistake – perhaps he needs to go for more winners. But perhaps he has already adapted given his perfomance so far in Wimbledon.