TIPS: 5 channels of 24-hour cycling television

Watching the sky spill for the third day in a row today, I finally struck gold. I just finished watching the 2004 UCI 4X Championships on Cycling.TV's "Mountain Bike & Triathlon" channel (one of its five internet-based cycling channels that show live and archived pro race coverage), and the depression from not riding is beginning to lift. Much of the programming is free, and some you have to pay for. Other channels include "Daily News & Features" and "Travel & Liesure."

From the company: "We supply seven different data streams from 56K up to 2MB. When your computer connects, we measure your connection speed. This ranges from full TV quality for very high speed users down to a stream for 56K users. However, on the 56K connection we have tostrip out so much data to get the video down that it isinevitably poor quality. With broadband, more data means better quality -- right up to perfect TV quality."

A special thanks to Roadbikerider.com for passing the dirt (and the following tip) on Cycling TV.

Tip: No matter what your connection speed, click the "TV mode" and the race will fill your computer's screen edge to edge just like it would on television.

You have got to check this out! It's the perfect way to catch some action, and you might just learn a thing or two. Cape Epic coverage is up next, so ciao!