# The Warrior...



## WeakMite (Feb 20, 2005)

Jens... bandaged bloodied. Making the time cut on the neutral service bike with toeclips. (stage 16)


----------



## spookyload (Jan 30, 2004)

Badass. He is the first guy I have seen riding one of those bikes. If there was ever an ironman award, he would surely win it.


----------



## chas (Aug 10, 2006)

Thanks for posting this. I caught the story in a separate thread, but this truly deserves it's own mention. His account of the stage is awesome:

_"...my front tire blew and I thought, “Oh God,” and I went down. Just one year after my horrible crash, and there I was tumbling on another mountain descent. And let me tell you, about the only place that feels good right now is my right ankle. The rest of me is all road rash. Plus I’ve got five stitches in my left elbow and then there are some ribs that are not in the right place! I may have to get x-rays, but I hate x-rays (the radiation), and plus, if I’ve got a fractured rib, what can anyone do about it?"

"So then the broom wagon pulled up and was like, “Do you want to just get in?” And I said, “Oh no, I don’t need YOU!” But there I am with blood spurting out my left elbow and no bike. Finally, the race organizers got me a bike, but it was this little yellow junior bike...(b)ut that is the only way I could get down the mountain, so I had to ride it for like 15-20 kilometers until I finally got to a team car ..."

"Needless to say, I had plenty of time to come up with a fitting book of the day. (T)he protagonist is Conan the Barbarian, who is a 70-year-old who has just survived everything. At one point he, and his other old warrior friends capture this village, but then they find that they are surrounded by an army of tens of thousands, and his only reaction is, “Oh man, it’s going to take days to kill all these people!” And that’s the way I was today when I was lying on the ground."_

http://www.bicycling.com/tour-de-france/tour-features/saying-no-sag-wagon


----------



## WeakMite (Feb 20, 2005)

...one of the podcasts characterized his crash as ...he gave the *road* some Jens rash.


----------



## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

I love that photo... saving it for future use the next time I hear a racer whining about anything at all.


----------



## shabbasuraj (May 14, 2005)

All Jens needed to cap his day would be a WILD BEAR ATTACK. (his own words a few tours ago).


----------



## tinkerbeast (Jul 24, 2009)

i hear andy knocked one down with a single punch


----------



## Jimi_Lee (May 3, 2006)

That made it into the NY Times yesterday:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/20...quit-the-tour-de-france/?scp=1&sq=jens&st=cse


----------



## snowman3 (Jul 20, 2002)

shabbasuraj said:


> All Jens needed to cap his day would be a WILD BEAR ATTACK. (his own words a few tours ago).


I want celebrity deathmatch: Jens vs Chuck Norris.


----------



## Salsa_Lover (Jul 6, 2008)

tinkerbeast said:


> i hear andy knocked one down with a single punch


----------



## karatemom (Mar 21, 2008)

God, someday when I grow up I want to be Jens Voigt. Either that or marry him.


----------



## ksanbon (Jul 19, 2008)

Who cares about the race......VS should do 24 hour coverage of Jens.


----------



## cyclejim (Mar 31, 2004)

tinkerbeast said:


> i hear andy knocked one down with a single punch


Not only that he can eat 21 powergels and a deep fried turkey


----------



## cyclejim (Mar 31, 2004)

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/4977/Jens-Voigt-avoids-abandoning-Tour-de-France-with-help-from-kids-bike.aspx

Great story, more details than the first story


----------



## Geoman (Dec 27, 2009)

I have a mancrush on Jens


----------



## vandalbob (Dec 13, 2001)

Geoman said:


> I have a mancrush on Jens


Who doesn't. The guy is freakin awesome


----------



## WeakMite (Feb 20, 2005)

cyclejim said:


> https://www.velonation.com/News/ID/4977/Jens-Voigt-avoids-abandoning-Tour-de-France-with-help-from-kids-bike.aspx
> 
> Great story, more details than the first story


From that story:


_Voigt's bike was totaled. "The frame was broken, the derailleur was broken, the front wheel 
was broken - there was nothing you could fix there anymore."

Rescue came through one of the special events that accompany the race. "*I think there is 
this children's program where they do part of the Tour de France stages. One of those cars 
came by and they gave me one of their bikes*." The bike was painted yellow and equipped 
with good old fashioned toe clips. "It was way too small for me, it didn't fit with my pedal system 
and it didn't really work the way I wanted it to work," Voigt said. "But it was something to move 
and I took the chance," Voigt added, happy that he was able to continue the race._


----------



## cyclejim (Mar 31, 2004)

How many other guys would do what Jens did


----------



## mtymxdh (Dec 21, 2007)

I already poasted this in the lownge but I'm going to post it here also...


----------



## foofighter (Dec 19, 2008)

i think after all this he should write a book...i'd love to read his memoirs


----------



## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

Hate to pop the Jens bubbles. I believe Jens rode that bike for a few miles until the team car came up to him and gave him a spare bike.


----------



## LeDomestique (Jan 17, 2007)

il sogno said:


> Hate to pop the Jens bubbles. I believe Jens rode that bike for a few miles until the team car came up to him and gave him a spare bike.


That doesnt pop any bubbles at all. The fact that he even rode 1K in that bike is what sets him aside from the rest.


----------



## spookyload (Jan 30, 2004)

In the article he wrote for bicycling he said he rode it for 10-15k


----------



## AndyP. (Mar 25, 2006)

il sogno said:


> Hate to pop the Jens bubbles. I believe Jens rode that bike for a few miles until the team car came up to him and gave him a spare bike.


1. Nothing about Jens ever pops except the riders around him.
2. The number of miles might have shrunken due to fear and dread.
3. Jens sets the pace for the Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse!!


----------



## ksanbon (Jul 19, 2008)

mtymxdh said:


> I already poasted this in the lownge but I'm going to post it here also...


That is _*so*_ Jens. Thanks!


----------



## WeakMite (Feb 20, 2005)

LeDomestique said:


> That doesnt pop any bubbles at all. The fact that he even rode 1K in that bike is what sets him aside from the rest.


Yep you're correct, the distance isn't the pivotal part of the story. 

The story is ...once his head cleared enough to realize where he was (after that tough crash) the whole tour caravan had long gone. The broom wagon stopped to pick him up... he refused and took a kids bike from a vacation operator. He took off and rode that bike back into the show. Eventually got a real spare, finished inside the time cut.

That's epic. :thumbsup:


----------



## LostViking (Jul 18, 2008)

*What can you say? Jens has already said it!*



chas said:


> Thanks for posting this. I caught the story in a separate thread, but this truly deserves it's own mention. His account of the stage is awesome:
> 
> _"...my front tire blew and I thought, “Oh God,” and I went down. Just one year after my horrible crash, and there I was tumbling on another mountain descent. And let me tell you, about the only place that feels good right now is my right ankle. The rest of me is all road rash. Plus I’ve got five stitches in my left elbow and then there are some ribs that are not in the right place! I may have to get x-rays, but I hate x-rays (the radiation), and plus, if I’ve got a fractured rib, what can anyone do about it?"
> 
> ...


It's gonna take days for me to stop laughing! Thanks Jens. :thumbsup:


----------



## WeakMite (Feb 20, 2005)

*Q:* ...how much longer do you want to ride as a professional?

*Jens:* (pause) ...ahhh there's no limit. Until they shoot me off my bike I'll keep asking for a contract_!_

video.competitor.com/2010/07/cycling/jens-voigt


----------



## ultimobici (Jul 16, 2005)

WeakMite said:


> *Q:* ...how much longer do you want to ride as a professional?
> 
> *Jens:* (pause) ...ahhh there's no limit. Until they shoot me off my bike I'll keep asking for a contract_!_
> 
> video.competitor.com/2010/07/cycling/jens-voigt


Genius!


----------



## biobanker (Jun 11, 2009)

Long live Jens. He is the bigggest freak of them all. 


Wonder if they x-rayed that little bike?


----------



## TheSingleGuy (Feb 20, 2009)

WeakMite said:


> *Q:* ...how much longer do you want to ride as a professional?
> 
> *Jens:* (pause) ...ahhh there's no limit. Until they shoot me off my bike I'll keep asking for a contract_!_
> 
> video.competitor.com/2010/07/cycling/jens-voigt


I loved that quote too! ...and the one before it where he said "I'd have ridden a horse just to get back to the peloton!" 

The winner of the TdF 2010 hard-man award.


----------



## Pscyclepath (May 22, 2008)

WeakMite said:


> Yep you're correct, the distance isn't the pivotal part of the story.
> 
> The story is ...once his head cleared enough to realize where he was (after that tough crash) the whole tour caravan had long gone. The broom wagon stopped to pick him up... he refused and took a kids bike from a vacation operator. He took off and rode that bike back into the show. Eventually got a real spare, finished inside the time cut.
> 
> That's epic. :thumbsup:



Actually, it's one of the Mavic neutral support bikes. Mavic provides the official "sag services" for the tour where flatted riders can get a wheel change, or in Jens' case, a whole bike when their team car isn't around. Apparently, these bikes are sized more for the average little grimpeuer and not a bike god like Jens.


----------



## RkFast (Dec 11, 2004)

Every time you think Jens cant be any cooler, any harder, anymore badass, he raises the bar. 

He's become far and away my favorite athlete in any sport, period.


----------

