Live Q&A with Johan Bruyneel 5:30pm (ET) Today!
Today’s a big day. Johan Bruyneel — the 9-times winning Tour de France sports director and the man Phil Liggett says is “certainly the best director right now, and arguably ever” — is coming here today to take questions from Fat Cyclist readers.
The conversation will happen at this very URL, and begins at 5:30pm (ET) / 2:30pm (PT).
I’ve made no secret that I consider Johan to be one of the greats. He obviously knows his job, can take a joke (and turn it into an amazing event), and cares deeply about important causes (World Bicycle Relief chief among them).
So it’s a big honor to have him here. And to make sure Johan gets treated like the honored guest he is, I’m going to lay out some info and ground rules:
- The “Living Room Rule” applies. You and Johan are both literally my guests here. In the same way I would not tolerate one guest being rude to another at my house, I will not tolerate one guest being rude to another here. And since this is my virtual house, I get to decide what “rude” means.
- Let’s have an interesting variety of topics. I’m sure that at some point we’ll get to both doping and the radio ban. But let’s not have all the questions be about doping or the radio ban, OK?
- Question moderation is on. When you enter your question, it appears in a list that both Johan and I — but not the public — can see. Both of us have the power to choose questions and make them public, at which point Johan will answer it. Or I might, if I feel like it.
- If Johan doesn’t answer your question, don’t feel bad. There are going to be a lot of people asking a lot of questions, all at once. Johan can’t possibly answer all of them. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t like you.
- Be nice. Pretty decent advice for life in general, really.
I’m excited. Really excited.
See you here at 5:30pm (ET) / 4:30pm (CT) / 3:30pm (MT) / 2:30pm (PT)!
Comment by Roger Whitney | 03.23.2011 | 7:41 am
You are sooooo cutting edge Fatty. I look forward to visiting your virtual house
Comment by Nick | 03.23.2011 | 7:52 am
This is a pretty awesome thing, Fatty. Unfortunately I don’t think I know enough about the Tour or being a Race Director in order to ask anything intelligent so I’m going to sit back and read and be quiet.
Comment by Franky | 03.23.2011 | 8:27 am
What should I bring to the virtual party? Do you prefer red or white?
Comment by Douglas | 03.23.2011 | 10:03 am
Ask him at least on question about chamois cream, favorite brands, tingly or not; etc.
Comment by The Cheat | 03.23.2011 | 10:34 am
Where is your virtual bathroom?
Comment by gfurry | 03.23.2011 | 11:28 am
I wish the Living Room rule would be used on all web chats as well as anywhere you can leave a comment on the internet. Maybe you could monitor all other websites and chat rooms for me?
Thanks Fatty
Comment by Erik | 03.23.2011 | 11:37 am
In your living room, do you expect guests to remove their shoes?
Comment by Vunje | 03.23.2011 | 11:42 am
Is there an archive of the T6 chat?
Comment by zach in a cubicle | 03.23.2011 | 11:51 am
I am giddie!
I hope fatty is more of a beer guy.
Sadly I have a lot more questions for T6 then Johan.
Comment by MacKenzie | 03.23.2011 | 12:22 pm
Fatty – so dang excited. I love your reading your blog and I love Johan. Doesn’t get much better than being able to read your blog and talk to Johan AT THE SAME TIME! Can’t wait… thanks for putting this together!
Comment by Andrew | 03.23.2011 | 12:23 pm
I won’t be able to be around, but someone should ask Bruyneel about his stage win in the 95 Tour – what it was like to follow Indurain, whether or not he realized he was riding into the yellow jersey and why he decided to sprint after following Indurain’s wheel for the whole break?
(If you haven’t seen the race – Indurain, on his way to win his 5th Tour, breaks away on a hilly stage to Liege. Bruyneel – who I think was already up the road – latches onto Big Mig’s wheel and sits there for the next 30km or so. Indurain hits TT mode and looks like he is riding a motorbike. At the end of the stage, Bruyneel comes around Indurain to take the stage win and the yellow jersey which he keeps warm for a week or so until Indurain takes it and keeps it.)
Comment by gumoore | 03.23.2011 | 4:41 pm
Thanks Fatty and Johan! Enjoyed the chat very much.
Comment by Meredith | 03.23.2011 | 4:41 pm
So, that was awesome. How many people participated? Thanks for making it happen, Fatty!
Comment by Paul Guyot | 03.23.2011 | 4:42 pm
Nice job, Fatty and JB!
Thanks for all your time.
Comment by Bryan (not that one) | 03.23.2011 | 4:48 pm
That was a lot of fun. Thanks, Fatty and Johan!
Fatty, you might need a plunger. I had to use your virtual bathroom. Apologies…
Comment by Squirrelhead | 03.23.2011 | 5:41 pm
That was a great chat Fatty. A big thank you to you and Johan Bruyneel for such great material.
Comment by MattC | 03.23.2011 | 6:10 pm
Hey Fatty…I had to ‘abandon’ before the end (stupid work)…but my overall impression was that it was AWESOME! Johan is such a class act! Very cool of you to set this up! You have no boundaries…keep on surprising us!
Comment by Debi | 03.23.2011 | 6:36 pm
Wonderful chat. I happened on it 3 minutes before it started and forgot to do my homework. I still don’t know what his job (sports director) encompasses, but it sounded pretty interesting working with all those professional cyclists.
I really admire how he stood up for his riders to wear the cancer jerseys. Awesome event. Thanks for coordinating that.
Comment by GJ Jackie | 03.23.2011 | 8:52 pm
Well done! Great read all the discussion, even if I missed the live event. Thanks, Johan!
Comment by Luc | 03.23.2011 | 9:04 pm
Fatty,
Thank you for giving us (your fatty family) the opportunity to meet Johan in your house. I’m a big fan of his, classy-professional with a sense of humor, who happens to be a 9-time Tour de France winning team director. The guy’s just great!
What’s up with the “100 miles of No Where”? I can’t wait to register and teach my girlfriend a thing or 2 about the bike. She’s a runner, and religiously puts the hurt on me while running.- It’s pay back time!
Thanks
Comment by stuckinmypedals | 03.23.2011 | 10:56 pm
Thanks, Fatty for letting us be in on this conversation. Gfurry, I totally agree that the living room rules need to spread.
Comment by ChrisL905 | 03.24.2011 | 6:05 am
Good Job Fatty!!
Comment by mpres62 | 03.24.2011 | 8:16 am
Phil Liggett, Johan Bruyneel, Padraig! This is crazy good stuff. I’m hooked.
Comment by Anonymous | 03.24.2011 | 8:25 am
Johan freaking Bruyneel – has that sunk in yet Fatty???
Comment by VA Biker | 03.24.2011 | 1:12 pm
That was really good. I just read along. I wasn’t sure what to expect going in, but was nicely surprised with the result. It would be cool to do a matter of fact kind of chat with others in professional cycling world. Thanks for sharing.
Comment by Chris | 03.24.2011 | 2:06 pm
Cool, Johan also uses a co rider for his kid. Best thing we ever got for riding with a two year old.
Comment by Penina | 03.30.2011 | 7:59 am
Sorry I could not make the chat, but reading it now just strenghtens my admiration for Johan. Cool dad, cool sportsman, and cool humanitarian.
Comment by john | 04.25.2011 | 6:10 am
Good work done fatty .Thanks for sharing.motorcycle lawyer
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