It's July, and that means it's time for the Tour de France! It's shaping up to be a good race and I can't wait to see how it all unfolds over the next 3 weeks. I brought in a satellite receiver to hook up to the TV at work so I could watch the stage finishes. I like to think it's helps my productivity. :) Plus it keeps me from burning bandwidth at work by watching online video streams.
If you've ever wanted to know about cycling (and stage races), now is a great time to watch the Tour. With Lance Armstrong racing again, the people at Versus know there are a lot of new viewers and they spend more time than usual explaining things (at least in these opening stages). And if you've got some more questions, you can fire them off to me.
Yesterday's stage was surprisingly interesting. It should have been a pretty straightforward stage with a sprint finish. Instead, one team (Columbia) caused a split in the group when they came into a crosswind. It was great to watch it all unfold. They lined up all of their guys on the front and formed an echelon that was just big enough for their team, leaving everyone else to suffer in the wind. (An echelon is a way of riding in a crosswind that allows riders to "hide" from the wind while one person takes most of it. It looks like a paceline that's been blown sideways.) The result was that all of the overall favorites (except Armstrong) lost time and Columbia's sprinter won the stage.
Showing posts with label tour de france. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tour de france. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Tour de France - Stage 1
Today's stage finished in Canterbury. We rode in a car with Christine's step-mom, and her brother rode in a car with some of their friends. What a cluster f*ck. Everything is an ordeal (and a slow one at that) when you're dealing with a couple 8 year olds and their associated entourage/menagerie. Once we got to Canterbury the whole parking thing was a treat. Christine and I were content to park and walk, but since we had to try to coordinate with another carload it was difficult. Then, of course, after an hour+ ride there's an amazing amount of organization that needs to happen before the kids can do anything so Christine and I are just hanging around in the parking lot shuffling our feet. We were really glad to separate and do our own thing once we made it to the race area.
We started by getting a little snack and coffee to push the crabbiness out of us. Then we walked down to the race course to check it out. It was getting close to the scheduled caravan time so we parked it to watch. At the prologue, I had gotten a Skoda hat from the caravan for Christine, and she accidentally dropped it somewhere today. Ironically, the Skoda car came buy and literally set the identical hat right in my hands. The Skoda hat is back. Life is good.
After we grew tired of the caravan, we walked over to the center of town. There was a market set up, so we got a crepe and some fresh strawberries (2 pt's for 1 British pound - a sweet deal). There was a large TV screen setup there too, so we watch as the racers got closer to town.
When they were about 20km's away, we walked over to the finish. It was crazy over there. Instead of trying to push our way through to the race course, we stayed back and watch the finish on France 2's big screen. Somehow Robbie McEwan managed to win the stage after being off the back of the main field with 8km's to go. That guy is amazing.
Tomorrow we head back to the states. I've decided that taking a vacation while visiting family isn't nearly as much fun as getting away with your wife. I'll note that for the future. As we were sitting in a pub enjoying a beer last night, I couldn't help but think that it will be nice when we can go backpacking again.
I'd like to confirm that, contrary to what you've heard, London Bridge is not falling down, falling down, falling down. Goodbye London. It's been real.
We started by getting a little snack and coffee to push the crabbiness out of us. Then we walked down to the race course to check it out. It was getting close to the scheduled caravan time so we parked it to watch. At the prologue, I had gotten a Skoda hat from the caravan for Christine, and she accidentally dropped it somewhere today. Ironically, the Skoda car came buy and literally set the identical hat right in my hands. The Skoda hat is back. Life is good.
After we grew tired of the caravan, we walked over to the center of town. There was a market set up, so we got a crepe and some fresh strawberries (2 pt's for 1 British pound - a sweet deal). There was a large TV screen setup there too, so we watch as the racers got closer to town.
When they were about 20km's away, we walked over to the finish. It was crazy over there. Instead of trying to push our way through to the race course, we stayed back and watch the finish on France 2's big screen. Somehow Robbie McEwan managed to win the stage after being off the back of the main field with 8km's to go. That guy is amazing.
Tomorrow we head back to the states. I've decided that taking a vacation while visiting family isn't nearly as much fun as getting away with your wife. I'll note that for the future. As we were sitting in a pub enjoying a beer last night, I couldn't help but think that it will be nice when we can go backpacking again.
I'd like to confirm that, contrary to what you've heard, London Bridge is not falling down, falling down, falling down. Goodbye London. It's been real.
Tour de France - Prologue
Christine and I got an early start and arrived at the Prologue course by 11AM. At the time, there were a lot of people there, but there was still some space up against the race course. It wasn't a very exciting day. We just had to hang there and wait until the racers started, one by one, at 3PM. At around 1PM the Tour publicity caravan drove through tossing out goodies. Since they start at the beginning of the 8km course and we were at the finish, I think they had already pitched most of their goodies by the time they got to us.
We watched about the first half of the racers go, and then we decided we had enough of getting crammed into the barriers and walked around to catch some of the other action around the course. We walked by the team buses and saw some of the top riders warming up. It's odd to be able to stand 10 feet away from a pro athlete like that while there warming up. Then we walked further around the course stopping occasionally to check out one of the several giant TV screens they had set up in the parks.
Fabian Cancellara blew everyone else away and won by 13 seconds.
We watched about the first half of the racers go, and then we decided we had enough of getting crammed into the barriers and walked around to catch some of the other action around the course. We walked by the team buses and saw some of the top riders warming up. It's odd to be able to stand 10 feet away from a pro athlete like that while there warming up. Then we walked further around the course stopping occasionally to check out one of the several giant TV screens they had set up in the parks.
Fabian Cancellara blew everyone else away and won by 13 seconds.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Tour de France - Team Presentations
This evening was the start of the Tour festivities with the team presentations in Trafalgar Square. We got to the square a couple hours early and grabbed a decent viewing spot. It was a little far away from the stage but we had a clear view and we could at least sit while we waited.
I wasn't really sure what to expect since they don't typically televise the team presentations in the US. The event started out with a DJ "spinning" (he had two CD decks and a mixer) to get things going. When he finished, there were presentations of various cycling groups and they also paraded some different kinds of bikes across the stage. They had some old bikes, new bikes, and unusual bikes. Later the mayor of London and the director of The Tour came out and chatted before bringing out the hosts for the presentations.
The teams came out one by one and the riders were introduced. There was, of course, loud applause for the British riders but even Americans like George Hincapie were welcomed loudly. Unsprisingly, there was no mention of Floyd Landis (who's verdict was rumored to be coming out today).
After the final team was presented (local favorite, Bradly Wiggins' Cofidis team), a band started playing and the crowd dispersed. Tomorrow is the prologue, and I hope to get a good viewing spot.
I wasn't really sure what to expect since they don't typically televise the team presentations in the US. The event started out with a DJ "spinning" (he had two CD decks and a mixer) to get things going. When he finished, there were presentations of various cycling groups and they also paraded some different kinds of bikes across the stage. They had some old bikes, new bikes, and unusual bikes. Later the mayor of London and the director of The Tour came out and chatted before bringing out the hosts for the presentations.
The teams came out one by one and the riders were introduced. There was, of course, loud applause for the British riders but even Americans like George Hincapie were welcomed loudly. Unsprisingly, there was no mention of Floyd Landis (who's verdict was rumored to be coming out today).
After the final team was presented (local favorite, Bradly Wiggins' Cofidis team), a band started playing and the crowd dispersed. Tomorrow is the prologue, and I hope to get a good viewing spot.
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