# Amazing Race (11/20/11) - "It's Speedo Time!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 21, 2011, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593 "2011-11-21T00:04:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/41 "2011-11-21T19:52:26Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > The interesting thing about the posing task is that a LOT of those demonstrators/teachers made professional NFL football player Marcus look SMALL! Even the ones who were shorter than him. Eh, there’s an enormous difference between competitive body builders, who are essentially beauty pageant contestants, and pro athletes, who are concentrating on performance. In his prime, I have no doubt Marcus could have smoked any of them at almost any actual athletic task besides weightlifting. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/42 "2011-11-21T19:54:36Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > I’m not familar with JCVD being a body builder. I thought he was a martial artist. I’d say he’s famous for _not_ being a martial artist. Chuck Norris has put him down for not being a professional fighter. As in: “Chuck, who would win in a fight?” “He’s not a professional fighter.” (Chuck was not only a professional, but a champion.) Then there’s the awesome story about how Chuck Zito knocked JCVD out with one punch in a bar fight. When I think of JCVD, those are always the first two things I think of. Followed quickly by that “exploding jeans” abomination of a movie he made. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/43 "2011-11-21T20:59:32Z")
Bill and Cathi are in _great_ shape for folks their age! Did it look like Cindy had some major bruises on her leg? And poor skinny snowboarders looked withered compared to the bodybuilders. I’m happy for Amani & Marcus - he really turned it on for the audience! And I still have trouble remembering that other couple. It’s like they’re the ultimate in forgettable. StG ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/44 "2011-11-21T21:13:58Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > Bill and Cathi are in _great_ shape for folks their age! Did it look like Cindy had some major bruises on her leg? Considering how many times she’s fallen down in what has been, for them, a week or two at most, I wasn’t surprised. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/45 "2011-11-21T21:30:56Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Considering how many times she’s fallen down in what has been, for them, a week or two at most, I wasn’t surprised. I don’t remember Cindy falling at all. Cathi though couldn’t plug in a coffee maker without taking a tumble. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/46 "2011-11-21T21:36:39Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > I don’t remember Cindy falling at all. > Cathi though couldn’t plug in a coffee maker without taking a tumble. :smack: Sorry. I saw Cathi for both names. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/47 "2011-11-21T21:43:32Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > I don’t remember Cindy falling at all. She didn’t fall, but all it would take is one good whack from the bed carrying to create a couple nasty bruises. That was what, four or five days ago for the racers? ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/48 "2011-11-21T22:19:47Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > She didn’t fall, but all it would take is one good whack from the bed carrying to create a couple nasty bruises. That was what, four or five days ago for the racers? I’m curious as to how long the actual race is. I mean, how long are the racers on the road? Is it a simple matter of one episode equals one day? So they are actually only gone for two weeks or so? ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/49 "2011-11-21T22:47:25Z")
My understanding is that the pit stops are at least 12 hours, sometimes as much as 36. I don’t recall any legs (episodes) lasting longer than about 48 hours. My educated guess would be about one month for the entire thing, maximum. But I could be wrong! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/50 "2011-11-21T22:58:32Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > My understanding is that the pit stops are at least 12 hours, sometimes as much as 36. I don’t recall any legs (episodes) lasting longer than about 48 hours. My educated guess would be about one month for the entire thing, maximum. But I could be wrong! Yeah, I’d guess about a month. You have to add in travel time, too, which can sometimes be 24 hours or more. ---
**Author:** ![Lusus\_Naturae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Lusus\_Naturae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lusus_Naturae)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/51 "2011-11-22T01:46:03Z")
Due to sketchy weather in my part of the world, I missed everything after Amani was saying she was going to vomit on the spinny Lego ride. While my major questions have already been answered by courteous fellow viewers above, one remaining concern remains: Did she yak or not? :eek: Enquiring minds and allat. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/52 "2011-11-22T02:04:09Z")
No visible barfing by anyone. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/53 "2011-11-22T02:17:30Z")
Here’s a funny coincidence… in 2001, during the Great European Backpacking Adventure featuring my sister and I, we were in Hamburg, at the Hauptbahnhof, and got tickets to Bonn later that day. We wandered around the city a bit, invented a game called Pigeon Soccer, and were back at the station in plenty of time to board the train. Upon doing so, we realized… We’d dropped our tickets somewhere! And the train was due to leave in 5 minutes! I stayed on board with our bags, and my sister went pelting to the Information desk. They saw her face, and, before she’d had to say a word, handed over our tickets, which someone had found earlier. She pelted back, and stepped onto the train just as it starting pulling away. THAT’S how you do it, Ernie and Cindy! ---
**Author:** ![Lusus\_Naturae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Lusus\_Naturae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lusus_Naturae)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/54 "2011-11-22T03:16:22Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > No visible barfing by anyone. Man, that blows. :rolleyes: Sorry, couldn’t resist. Do the bikes in Denmark really have maps on the front wheel? Because that’s a really clever idea if so. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/55 "2011-11-22T14:53:18Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > Here’s a funny coincidence… in 2001, during the Great European Backpacking Adventure featuring my sister and I, we were in Hamburg, at the Hauptbahnhof, and got tickets to Bonn later that day. We wandered around the city a bit, invented a game called Pigeon Soccer, and were back at the station in plenty of time to board the train. Upon doing so, we realized… > > We’d dropped our tickets somewhere! And the train was due to leave in 5 minutes! > > I stayed on board with our bags, and my sister went pelting to the Information desk. They saw her face, and, before she’d had to say a word, handed over our tickets, which someone had found earlier. She pelted back, and stepped onto the train just as it starting pulling away. > > THAT’S how you do it, Ernie and Cindy! Seriously. I was saying “People, you are in _Germany_. When you find a problem you tell someone in authority. _They wil fix it_. If you lose something you ask, because it is nearly a certainty that it was turned in.” ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/56 "2011-11-22T15:41:36Z")
> [@Lusus\_Naturae](#): > > Man, that blows. > :rolleyes: > Sorry, couldn’t resist. > > Do the bikes in Denmark really have maps on the front wheel? Because that’s a really clever idea if so. I used them about 8 years ago and they didn’t back then. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/57 "2011-11-22T15:57:22Z")
I just assumed the wheel covers were something made for the show as part of the task. I’ve ridden trains in various parts of the world where nobody ever came to check tickets so that didn’t strike me as unlikely, but I also wouldn’t be surprised to learn that a producer made the problem go away. Since they had quite a bit of time I would assume that at some point they did check lost & founds and the ticket counter and it just wasn’t shown. But if not, then yeah bad playing. Are those trains entirely sleeper cars? I’d assume a coach seat would be much cheaper (though I have no idea how much money they had). Me and my friend who often evaluate how we’d do on legs if on the show decided that the bodybuilding task was the first one where we might have just quit instead of submitting ourselves to national ridicule. I’d have been fine with being fat and nearly naked and running through the streets of Beijing. But being fat and striking bodybuilder poses might likely have been a bridge too far. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/58 "2011-11-22T19:16:45Z")
> [@Spiny\_Norman](#): > > The entire train & train ticket drama setup seemed rather forced. Spending a few minutes on Deutsche Bahn’s website shows a ton of possible connections Hamburg-Bruxelles - looks like the route and departure was pre-chosen. Besides, the Thalys train is reservation-only (or was when I roamed the European rails) - how would they know where their seats were? My reaction to the whole thing was that with Eurorail, they simply would not have had to wait hours before getting a train to Brussels. Another TAR artifical bunching point. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/59 "2011-11-22T19:52:21Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > invented a game called Pigeon Soccer This sounds like a _great_ game. But how do you get the cleats on the pigeons? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593/60 "2011-11-22T20:01:41Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > But how do you get the cleats on the pigeons? I would assume getting the cleats on the pigeons is the purpose of Pigeon Soccer, from a certain perspective. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-race-11-20-11-its-speedo-time/603593.md?page=4)