North American Cyclo-crossers in Europe

Since last season, I've been particularly interested to follow the experiences of various North Americans racing cyclo-cross in Europe. I think initially it was that a Belgian friend pointed out how American Jonathan Page was living and training in Europe (rather than racing in the US and only coming to Europe for the World Championships and maybe 1-2 World Cups just prior) that got me intrigued - then I saw some local TV clips and internet articles where I found out that there were some local racers going to Worlds last January and I started reading several of their blogs (thanks Shaun and Spencer).

So, I was concerned to read various articles about Jonathan Page's difficulties this year - he won a silver medal at Worlds after coming back from injury and got signed to a Belgian team, but seemed to be having some disagreements with his team recently. It appeared to culminate with the team claiming he couldn't handle the pressure (and they even sent a doctor to check up on him when he said he was ill and couldn't race), whereas Page claimed team management was putting inappropriate pressure on him and other riders which adversely affected his performance. More recently, they seem to have (temporarily) resolved their differences, in part by shortening his contract to the end of this season (rather than including next season as well).

I've been impressed reading about another American, Jonathan Baker, who is also living in Belgium this season to race cyclocross - I'd noticed his name in some of the results and wondered who this other American in Europe was (the other top American 'cross racers are mostly racing in the US at this point and will only go to Europe after Christmas if at all). An interview at Velonews with Baker showed that he has a admirable attitude, taking a leave of absence from his job as a software engineer and taking his wife and 2 kids with him:

I just wanted to see where I stack up if I give it 100 percent. If that is 40th, whatever. But I think I could get in the top 30 at a World Cup. I'd be pretty happy with that. And obviously I wouldn't be doing it if I weren't having fun. I'm not looking to make a job out of it. But at the same time I'm not just here on vacation. I take it very seriously.

He's also written a diary-style update for Velonews.

And it sounds like several locals are again planning to race in Europe in December-January including Worlds - I'll be reading the results on the internet and probably watching Worlds again on cycling.tv like I did last year (if I manage to get up early enough - so far I haven't managed that for the World Cup races).

FAQ - Tour de France finish line on Champs Elysees

My husband and I had a bit of disagreement before and during our trip - we knew that the Tour finishes on a circuit course on the Champs Elysees in Paris, but weren't sure where exactly the finish line was located. Ed recalled seeing previous podium shots on TV with the Arc de Triomphe in the background and took that to mean that it was located quite close to the Arc, but I wasn't so sure. I'd tried to find more information about the finish on the internet, but couldn't find any sort of map (the official TdF website only had the overall stage map, not anything specific about the finish).

So, on the final Sunday morning of the Tour in July this year, we were up early to scout out where everything was. In the two previous days we could see where they were setting up VIP seating (usually photos of the Obelisk don't include grandstands!) Our hotel was fairly close to the Arc, and we took some photos with our bikes on the Champs Elysees in the closed section between the race course turnaround and the traffic circle at the Arc itself. We'd wanted to try to ride on the course, but couldn't find anywhere to get onto the course as it was very well barricaded - it seemed if you could get on the course, the police didn't really care if you were riding (this was at 9am, long before the caravan or the racers would be coming along) ... but there was really no opening we could see to get onto the actual course.



So, instead we rode along the sidewalk of the Champs until we got close to the park areas where all the VIP seating started and access became a lot more limited. As it turned out, the finish line was where all the grandstands were (and therefore, where the general public without grandstand tickets couldn't get to or see all that well). The closest non-grandstand places to the finish line were already crowded by early in the morning. We took our bikes back to the hotel, and came back to a spot near the intermediate sprint line (right against the barriers) by about 11 am and waited.

That day's L'Equipe newspaper was the most helpful in terms of the actual course route for the circuit finish, so I kept the map and scanned it just in case it can be helpful to anyone else.

Canadian team to the Tour de France?

Probably not for a few more years, but this article in the
Province details how the BC-based Symmetrics cycling team is aiming for the Tour within five years.

"No, we're not ready yet," said Cunningham, who thinks it could be done within five years. "We still have a ways to go, not only from an infrastructure perspective and a sponsorship perspective, but we need the cash. We need more team management and we need to add a few riders. There are other strong Canadian riders and we've talked to them, but it comes down to budget."
Symmetrics started with a $30,000 budget. Last year that budget grew to $800,000 and next year it will be $1 million. By comparison, top teams have budgets in the $15-million range.
Cunningham thinks it would take an annual budge of $5 million to $7 million to get a team into the Tour de France.
He said potential sponsors are intrigued by the idea of an all-Canadian team in the Tour, even though doping scandals have plagued the event in recent years.
"The doping issue is a major issue," Cunningham said. "When you walk into a boardroom full of executives, the first thing they start to talk about is Floyd Landis.
"But we have a very clear mandate. We're truly anti-drug. Kevin and I made an agreement amongst ourselves that if there's any hint of doping, we'd shut the team down and give all the money back to the sponsors. We'd shut it down, and the riders know that."

If they manage this, then it would be a big step from the last few years that I've been following pro cycling, in which there have been no Canadian riders in the Tour de France - we were really hoping to see Mike Barry (T-Mobile) there this summer, but then he came down with pneumonia a month or so before.

A new type of "Bike Race Adventure"

On Sunday, Ed and I plus our friend Alan went to Argyll Park (by the Velodrome) to watch the GP Jim Horner cyclocross races. For the first time, the race had a UCI C2-level ranking (meaning that the results even get posted on Cyclingnews.com).

We arrived during a warmup session, so we explored along the course looking for good vantage points. We chatted with some friendly course marshals right before the first downhill stretch - thanks for your tips! We checked out the longest downhill, with a tricky corner at the bottom (had to make sure you took the right line or you'd get stuck in loose dirt and not be able to turn properly). We also checked out the following uphill, with some logs across the path as barriers - one rider bunny-hopped and rode up the hill in the warm-up, but we didn't see anyone try that during the race, instead it was an opportunity to see how smoothly the best riders get off their bikes, pick them up and run, all in one motion (and same smoothness usually to get back on again at the top - it looked painful when the bike mounting part didn't work so well).

We decided to watch the racing from the bottom of that tricky downhill - first would be the elite women followed a few minutes later by the junior men. Except the women came sooner than we expected (it was only 1 pm by my watch and that was the race start time) so no pics until the junior men came around. Everyone slowed considerably at that corner.

After a few laps we moved along to watch the uphill section. It quickly became clear that Wendy Simms was going to win the women's race unless something drastic happened, and that David Larson would win the junior men's race - in the end, I think he even passed all the women.

We went up to the start area for the callup and start of the elite men's race - racers from Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatchewan, and BC I think. (of course, the Cycling News report mentioned that Tim Heemskerk is from the Netherlands as though he'd travelled here for the race, though I understand he lives here). I recognized some of the names (and faces) from having read various local racers' blogs in the last year since I decided that maybe I should pay attention to (and try to support) local racing not just international stuff ;-) .

Next we watched at the end of the paved section before a corner and a downhill - Alan was impressed at how fast they went by. We also watched them run up the stairs before returning to our favourite downhill and uphill sections, then returned to the start area in time to see the finish. After the first lap, Tim Heemskerk took the lead and didn't relinquish it.


Our photos for the day are here.

It was good to see a mention in the local paper about the weekends' races (even with photos from the following day's Oktobercross race), though it never makes the sports section it seems - this time one of the city columnists mentioned it, and a few times there has been mention of local cyclists in the Outdoors section.

Cyclo-crossers pedal fast to extend racing season
Mountain bikers take on road racers in European cross-country hybrid competition that tests stamina, flying ability
Nick Lees, The Edmonton Journal Published: Wednesday, October 10
Snow, rain, high winds, cloying mud, "bring it on," say hardy cycling devotees who want to extend the racing season. There were more than 200 entries on the weekend for two local cyclo-cross races that saw mountain bikers go head to head with road racers.

"Cyclo-cross racing is growing rapidly," says Daisy Blue Groff, whose United Cycle store organized Monday's Mammoet Oktoberfest race at Goldstick Park. "Competitors are cyclists in denial about winter closing in. They want to extend the racing season."
The origins of cyclo-cross are uncertain, but some say the sport began in Europe in the early 1900s when road racers competed with one another in races to the next town. They were allowed to cut through farmers' fields, jump fences, pedal through forests and run over hills. The sport is strongest in countries such as The Netherlands, Belgium and the Czech Republic. Temperatures force an end to the Alberta season in mid-November," says Groff. "But races in Europe are run through January."

No one was surprised when Dutch-born coach-athlete Tim Heemskerk scored a double victory on the weekend. After winning Sunday's Union Cycliste International race, named for a late Juventus-club founder, Jim Horner, Heemskerk on Monday won the Mammoet Oktoberfest. "Races are usually laps on a 21/2-to-31/2-kilometre route, making them very spectator friendly," says Edmonton's Heemskerk, a former Dutch national mountain bike champion, who in August with his partner Roddi Lega, won the international Panorama-to-Fernie TransRockies Challenge. "Young racers have improved incredibly during the last five years. Some qualified for the world championships last season. I can see Edmonton having a world champion in the next few years."

Cyclo-cross bikes are hybrids featuring traits of both racing bikes and mountain bikes. They are lightweight with drop handlebars, but they use narrow, knobbly tires and old-style, more mud-proof cantilever brakes. Obstacles, such as steps, barriers and hills force riders to dismount and run.

Heemskerk wrote to Mammoet in the Netherlands to ask if they were interested in helping sponsor Monday's race. "I was referred back to Edmonton because this is where their North American headquarters are," he says. "They have clients in the oilsands plants."
Awards went deep when Mammoet donated $3,500 in prize money.

"Cyclo-cross bikes cost in the $1,500 to $2,500 range," says Groff. "Bike companies have seen the interest in the sport grow and are making advances in designs and materials." She added: "People who turned out to watch the races for the first time on the weekend said they were really cool. I'm sure some will be back with their bikes."

FAQ - Eurostar and Bikes (and other trains)

One of our concerns for our trip in July was whether we would be able to carry our hard bike cases onto the Eurostar train (between London and Lille). In reviewing the Eurostar website, there was some conflicting information - because while on the one hand it mentioned that you didn't need to check baggage, just carry it onto the train - yet on the other hand, it mentioned that "you *should* use our registered baggage service" if you were travelling with bicycles or had too much/too heavy luggage. We wanted no part of the registered baggage service, because we were going to be taking a connecting train from Lille to Arras, so having our bikes arrive in Lille within 24 hours wasn't really helpful if we were already in Arras.

The Eurostar help pages listed that "A bicycle can be carried on Eurostar provided it can be folded or dismantled to fit into a bicycle bag. It can then be carried as part of a passenger's baggage and stowed in an appropriate area in the carriage where passengers are seated." So, this was a bit more helpful - it seemed to suggest that as long as your bike was dismantled and you could carry it on yourself it wouldn't be a problem. But, we weren't sure if they were going to differentiate between a soft bike bag and our hard bike cases.

We also saw this on the help pages: "Your luggage must be no more than two metres in length. Although there is no weight limit, you must be able to lift it into the storage racks provided". So, again we figured we were good, as our cases were just under 2m high and we were able to carry them ourselves.

Yet, on the other hand, when I tried to search on the web for other people's experiences, most of what I found was people using the registered baggage service. So, I even called Eurostar to check, and was told that as long as the bike was dismantled and in a case/bag we could carry it on.

I was a bit nervous checking in at Waterloo station, hoping that we wouldn't be told arbitrarily that our cases were too large and had to be checked in. Other than them not fitting into the x-ray machine of the lineup we were in and having to move over a few lines, we had no problems checking in or going through security. We made sure though to be near the gate entrance right at the time that boarding was due to start, so that we could be among the first to load our cases into the baggage section on our carriage - they stuck out at least 6-8 inches into the aisle, but no Eurostar employees seemed to care in the slightest.

We developed a routine of getting the cases on and off the trains - Ed would take his on board, then I'd hand mine up to him then get on myself (we had our luggage in backpacks/travel packs which made life a lot easier, to have our hands free for the bike cases). Getting off, basically Ed would hand everything off to me on the platform, including the backpacks, and then we'd get organized on the platform rather than trying to put on our packs on the train and manoeuvre the cases off the train while wearing the packs. This worked for the Eurostar, the regional TER train from Lille to Arras, and a few days later the TGV from Arras to Paris - Gare du Nord.

Once in Lille, we had to leave the Lille-Europe station and walk across a bridge to the Lille-Flandres station, where we waited for the regional TER train to Arras. Our excitement for that part of the trip was the lady who vomited in the station, and then later relieved herself in our train car ... most passengers then vacated that car, particularly when the urine puddle made its way down the car. We didn't want to move our cases, but the conductor finally convinced us that our cases would be safe unattended and that we could sit further down in the next car.

A few days later, taking the TGV from Arras to Paris, there was already a lot of baggage in the designated area - but there was an empty table and bench seat across so we stacked our cases there. Again, no train employee seemed to care where they were.

As a side note, we had taken our cases on the Underground from Heathrow Airport to Earls Court Station then walked to our hotel, pushing/pulling the cases. Our hotel was probably a bit closer to the next station (Gloucester Road) but it wasn't fully accessible. Even with wheelchair accessible stations (ie. no stairs which would have been nearly impossible with the cases), there were still long corridors to pull/push the cases and it was a tiring ordeal. So, we got our concierge to book us a van to Waterloo Station when we left and it was quite reasonable. At Paris- Gare du Nord, the taxi line was way too long (and we probably would have needed 2 taxis unless we were lucky enough that a minivan showed up when it was our turn), so we hired a "limo" van - expensive, but worth avoiding the hassle of hauling the cases through the Paris Metro system (and our closest station wasn't accessible anyway). We were lucky when we eventually got back to Paris that an Australian we met on our bus tour had a rental van and drove us to our next hotel. Then we took the Air France shuttle bus, which was quite convenient from our hotel, to the airport when we finally left France.

Anyway, maybe detailing our experiences here will help someone else in future, because I couldn't find a lot of information online about bikes in cases and trains before we went. (I should add - we did all our train travel at off-peak hours, generally between 10 am and 3 pm, so that probably made things easier as well).

Published!

So, my article about some of our Tour experiences is now online at the Daily Peloton. I wanted to capture more of the atmosphere and the cultural significance of the event, as at this point a simple accounting of who won which stage is a bit irrelevant because I'm sure all cycling fans have already read many accounts of the actual racing.

"This was when I really realized that the Tour de France is bigger than just the cycling race itself, bigger than any doping scandals can destroy, and bigger than any battles between the ASO and the UCI can compromise. I got the sense that the majority of those French families would have been there regardless of who exactly was racing. And in the end, while the race itself was exciting and it was spectacular to see it live, particularly in some amazingly scenic places, I think the majority of my memories are more about the atmosphere surrounding the Tour de France and the people I encountered along the way.

These are things that aren’t dependent on race details such as start lists, who won, or how many positive doping tests occurred. But still, I hope that current anti-doping efforts will help to clean up the sport and that the ASO and UCI can sort out their differences for the betterment of cycling world-wide, so that the Tour de France can remain a prominent sporting event as well as a social and cultural one."

I also thought it was important to point out to friends and family in North America that the many media accounts suggesting the imminent demise of the Tour because of doping scandals are a little bit exaggerated... this was a point also made by Alex Stieda in talking to a columnist at the Edmonton Journal recently.

Stieda, whose cycling career began with a paper route, says North Americans often don't realize European cycling stars, who cover about 4,000 kilometres on the 22-day, 20-stage tour, are as well- known as hockey stars are here.

So, one could say that the Tour de France ending because of doping scandals is just as likely to happen as the NHL folding because of a season-long lockout ... and obviously the NHL is still alive and well.

FAQ - Cycling from Arras to Vimy (Canadian Memorial)

As mentioned before, I have plans to put up some information about useful items we would have liked to know beforehand, but couldn't really find anywhere (or at least, couldn't find the information simply or concisely or consistently). So, this is the first of these.

As we could read on the official website and in guidebooks, the Canadian National Vimy Memorial is about 10 km north of the town of Arras, where we stayed for a few days in July. However, almost all the instructions we encountered (and that official distance) are for driving there, not for riding a bike - and we had no intention of riding on the N17 motorway (or worse yet, on the Autoroute) to get there.

Before leaving home, I purchased the Michelin #301 "Pas-de-Calais, Somme" Local map from a specialized map store - so we knew that there were other local "D" roads available to get to the memorial. (Helpful Hint - unless you're a true map fanatic and need to see the map well ahead of time, wait and buy it there in a bookstore - much cheaper at 4 Euros rather than the $14.95 Cdn I paid! You can always look at Via Michelin beforehand to get a sense of the area, and even print out a map from a specific search). The scale of the local Michelin map, 1/150000 was too large to get an idea though of how to get out of Arras to get on to any of these "D" roads - and the inset of Arras at larger scale was only a bit more helpful as it really only included the centre-ville area.

So, once in Arras, we went to the local tourist office located in the Town Hall. While we did get another local map of the centre of town, the workers there couldn't really help us with planning a bike route to Vimy - their best advice was "you don't want to go on the Motorway" and when we pointed to some of the smaller roads on our map they agreed but didn't give us any assistance as to how to get to those roads or which might be the best choice.

Therefore, we set off by walking our bikes over the cobbles of the Grand'Place north of our hotel, then rode west on the Rue Méaulens to the roundabout at the Place de Tchecoslovaquie. From there, we rode along the Rue Michelet to the north-east - but our larger-scale maps pretty much ended at that point.

On the local Michelin map, we knew that we wanted to turn north and head towards Roclincourt, but unfortunately the map didn't give any sort of name or number for this road. There were directional signs to various places, but mostly for things like the church (L'église) or the town hall (La Mairie) or how to get to the Motorway, and didn't help us much. So, we ended up going probably 3 km out of our way to the east, ending up at St. Laurent-Blangy, before we saw a bus stop with a map where I was able to determine that we did in fact want to turn north at the sign for the St. Nicholas Mairie.

We were a little bit concerned as we approached the motorway that we were in fact going to go over it rather than end up on it (as it was a bit of a detour rather than straight across), but once on the other side and heading north again we were reassured by signs that pointed towards Roclincourt (the next village we were aiming for on the map).

All was well until we got to Thélus, where once again the lack of a specific larger-scale local map was a problem - we got a good exploration of Thélus in several directions, including east to the N17 motorway and out northwest to a dead-end before we took what looked like a relatively main road northward that was labelled to the cemetery. This did take us north-west like we wanted, ending up at the N17 with the apparent road into the memorial a bit south on the opposite side of the N17. (and looking back at Google Earth/Google Maps afterwards, we somehow missed the "Rue de Vimy" which was what we wanted - I think we were on the Rue des Abouts and Rue de 19 Mars instead, before ending up on the Rue de Vimy).

Unfortunately, this road was blocked off to traffic, with instructions (in French) about how to detour around back to all the major roads we were trying to avoid in order to get to the Memorial from the opposite direction. It was slightly concerning that in English the sign only mentioned road construction, but in French it mentioned work being done for undetonated explosives and how dangerous it would be to go this way. On the other hand, it would also be quite dangerous to ride in busy traffic on the motorway! There was a mountain biker who had lifted his bike over the barrier and rode in just before we got there, and as he didn't come back (and we didn't hear any loud explosions), we decided to go this route we'd planned. There was only one area where there was some construction being done a bit off the road, and the workers waved to us as we rode by - lol. So much for my anxieties about being chased away by security or something like that.

The bonus was that at the end, we had a lovely tree-lined boulevard all to ourselves with no cars allowed (see photos below). We were happy to see the official Canadian government sign signifying we'd reached the official Memorial area, near the trenches/tunnels area of the Memorial site. We were able to ride our bikes up to the main memorial area, where we locked them to a pole in the parking lot. (We think that the security guard offered to watch them for us such that we didn't need to lock them, but we weren't secure enough with our French to be sure so we locked up anyway). Back near the trenches/tunnels area (where the official Visitor Centre is), we were able to lock up again at an actual bike rack in the parking lot.



On the way back to Arras, this time instead we went south to Neuville-St. Vaast, east along the D49 to Thélus (probably how we should have gone from Thélus had we known the other road would be closed), then back south through Roclincourt to Arras and kind of randomly along a few one-way streets to our hotel (tackling the cobbles this time rather than walking - ouch ;-) ).

Total time: going = 1.5 hours, 21.3 km; coming back = 45 minutes, 15.4 km.
Route summary:
-from Arras Grand'Place, NW on Rue Méaulens, then NE on Rue Michelet/D41, then N on Rue Raoul Briquet (according to Google Maps, just where Rue Michelet turns into Rue Anatole France).
-turn left when you get to the N17, go across it, then right again and N on Route de Roclincourt/Rue d'Arras.
-once at Thélus, probably best to go left/W on the Grande Rue/D49 to Neuville-St.Vaast to avoid the potentially-still-closed road we took.
-from Neuville-St. Vaast, go north on the D55/Route du Canada (is that obvious or what?) and there were even signs from this direction directing you to the Canadian Memorial, so should have no problems finding it from here.

(I tried to plot our routes on images I saved from Google Earth, seeing as our Garmin Edge didn't seem to work that day to plot it automatically for us - sorry for the wobbles).

Our photos (finally)

Our photos are posted online at smugmug, and I think we've done the majority of the captions that we plan to. So, enjoy.

I have also written an article about some of my observations at the Tour that should be posted on this cycling website shortly (and another to follow about "Tips for going to the Tour", when I finish writing it that is).

Song Mystery Solved

So, one day while we're on the bus going back to the hotel after a Tour de France stage, there's a song played on our bus that seemed to be some sort of Tour song (as in, it mentioned "De Londres a Paris" and a number of the stage start/finish towns, also we could pick out words such as "peloton" but being that it was in French, couldn't catch all the lyrics). Then, on several subsequent stages I heard the same song being played from the caravan as it went by. So, when we got home, I was trying to Google to find out what this song might be, without any real luck.

When we went through some of our freebies from the caravan, I noticed the CD from Bouyges Telecom that I'd mostly ignored previously, figuring that it was some sort of promotional video or similar. Except, now I noticed that some of the words on the cover matched some lyrics from the "mystery song" - and I remembered that when I'd heard the song from the caravan it was in fact from the Bouyges vehicles. So, into the computer went the CD and sure enough, there was the song. Presumably our bus driver or tour guide had picked up a CD at the stage and put it in the CD player on board that day when we first heard it ...

Looking further on the Bouyges website, looks like it is part of some promotional campaign. Not sure of all the lyrics, but some are "I know that you collect" and "everyone everywhere" - so I wonder if it's actually a song about the Tour caravan. In any case, if you want to listen yourself, there are clips here.

Cadel came 2nd!

So, my favourite rider came 2nd overall in the Tour de France - don't have access at the moment to my husband's pics of the final podium, so instead I'll share this one at the top of the Col d'Aubisque (last mountain stage). Michael Rasmussen had attacked near the end of the stage to take a solo victory, only to be fired from his team later that night for lying about his whereabouts when he missed an out-of-competition drug test in June. So, while our podium pics from that day are somewhat meaningless (ie. Rasmussen the stage winner and Rasmussen in the yellow jersey), to me it was interesting to see the run-off area after the finish line - Cadel being whisked away to a media scrum in this photo, then afterwards trying to go back up the hill just a bit and needing to grab onto the team guy with him for assistance, obviously used up everything on the climb. As did teammate Chris Horner - he came in a few minutes later and immediately got off his bike to sit down.

Home, but not the end of the "Adventures"

Yes, we made it home last night - while stopped over in Toronto we couldn't help thinking that maybe we should have gone back to London as the flying time from London to Edmonton is the same as Paris to Toronto (but then you have another 3-4 hours back from Toronto to Edmonton). Bikes seem fine, more importantly the "Cote du Ventoux" wine is fine ;-).

I'm not finished with the blog entries, though - I do plan to put up more details and some photos, as well as some FAQ-type stuff that I had a hard time finding before our trip (like "Eurostar and bikes", or "How to ride from Arras to Vimy Ridge and not get lost", or "Where exactly does the Tour finishing circuit go on the Champs Elysees?", or "How we packed our bikes so that they survived Air Canada"). So stay tuned.

In the meantime, it seemed that quite a number of our random peloton shots included Tom Boonen (or maybe he was just easier to pick out as leader of the green jersey competition, perhaps there's another rider we photographed just as much but haven't recognized yet). So, here's one of those shots (which includes the then-yellow-jersey wearer Fabian Cancellara as well):

Tour finale

Spent the day yesterday on the Champs Elysées for the Tour de France finale - couldn't get myself up early enough to be able to ride our bikes on the actual course but we got some pics on our bikes with the Arc de Triomphe in the background (without getting run down by traffic) and rode along the course on the sidewalk to get the layout. Already by 9 am the public viewing sites closest to the finish were gone (the best areas seemed to be where the grandstands were, including to see the podium from the front). We put our bikes back in the hotel, then staked out a spot just past the sprint line to watch the race - right at the barriers at 11am but it was 8-10 people deep there behind us by the time the caravan and race came around.

Really neat to see them come around 8 times (= 16 viewings) rather than the usual once. And I saw Cadel Evans on the podium (he came 2nd overall) even if from 100 m behind the podium. The team parade afterwards was neat too - lots of flags and rider antics (wheelies, Julian Dean in a top hat, etc.)

Mixed emotions - excitement of having seen the Tour, but disappointment at all the doping scandals.

Finally, a mountaintop finish!

Don't have much time but just wanted to say that we did a 30 km climb today up to the top of the Col d'Aubisque to watch the stage finish, and it was really cool. 90 km round-trip ride. will type more in Paris.

Success!

After numerous e-mails, text messages, and a few cell phone calls Ed and I managed to meet up with an Australian friend who is staying just north of Mont Ventoux. We were able to take our coach out to a town at the base where we'd be picking up some of our group after they rode Ventoux, and our friend and his girlfriend rode there to meet us - had lunch and drinks, watched the Tour a bit on TV in a bar, and chatted for real rather than just online. So, pretty neat!

Tomorrow we leave for Toulouse with a detour to ride/watch the Tour go by live. Then there's the time trial on Saturday then the next mountain stages. Did I mention how happy I am that my favourite rider is currently in 4th? (though disappointed that another favourite had to drop out after missing the time cut a few days ago - not a climber and suffering from a prior crash in the race).

Writing from Alpe d'Huez

Those who follow cycling and the Tour de France will know the significance of the Alpe d'Huez climb in the history of the Tour. It is rated as "HC", meaning "hors categorie" or "beyond categorization" - 13.8 km, 21 hairpin turns, average grade 8.5%, up to the village of Alpe d'Huez. Ed and I both made it up this climb yesterday - pretty good considering we've both not been feeling well and the temperature was in the mid-30's (at least) when we were riding. 2 hr riding time for Ed and 2.5 hours for me - just don't ask about the time of our rest breaks ;-) .

So, today we watched the stage over the Galibier from the hotel bar with a bunch of Aussies, all cheering on Cadel Evans when he tried to stay with Contador's attack and when he finished 3rd on the stage for 4th overall so far. And we explored the town.

Tomorrow, we drive on the bus to Avignon. Trying to meet up with a DP forums member who's staying near there at the moment, we'll see if we manage to get together.

(and, FYI, when I get back I do plan to write more about our trip in terms of details of how our riding went, logistics of travelling with bike cases, etc ... just don't have too much time right now when we're paying for internet by the minute. I really wish I had a small enough laptop to have brought along as all our hotels so far have had WiFi, mostly free.)

Our first mountain stage at the Tour!

No internet access for a few days - made it to Paris, spent a somewhat inordinate amount of money for a van limo cab to get ourselves and our bike cases from Paris Gare du Nord to our hotel (but it was worth it not to have to lug those cases through the Paris Metro, would have had to switch lines several times). Joined our tour group, long bus ride yesterday out to Aix-les-Bains, and today our first Tour de France stage that we rode to.

The bus took us to the town of Cluses, at the foot of the final climb of the day's stage up the Col de la Colombiere (then a descent to the finish). Lots of traffic, Ed and I didn't really have our climbing legs yet, so after about 13 km and just past the village of Le Reposoir we stopped to stake out our spot to watch. More freebies from the Caravan - including a Francais des Jeux lanyard (one of the French teams) with a rider's name on it - I got Bradley McGee (one of my favourite riders, too bad he's injured and not here). Also we got matching Champion (grocery chain) polka dot hats, an LCL yellow bag, more candy, and Bart and Lisa Simpson masks (yes, you read correctly - promoting the opening of "Simpsons - Le Film").

Gerdemann and Fofonov were together when they went by us, followed by a few riders separately, then a pack including Cadel Evans (yay!) and Hincapie was at the back of that pack then. Then some other assorted riders before the main peloton/grupetto about 15 minutes back I think - Boonen in the green jersey was at the front, I was so absorbed trying to get photos of him and Cancellara in the yellow jersey that I missed Robbie McEwen going by.

Then the end , and had to ride through tons of pedestrians then through all the traffic trying to get back down the mountain. I think my riding skills in traffic have much improved even from just today!

Tomorrow we think we're going to try to watch after the feedzone, after riding a bit first.

Proud to be a Canadian!

Yesterday, Ed and I rode our bikes from Arras out to the Canadian National War Memorial at Vimy Ridge - should have been about 15 km but without a good map and with no help at the local tourist office other than "it's too busy, you can't ride out there on the main road" we rode 21+ km there over 90 minutes, but it was fun once we got out of Arras and into the country.

Very imposing memorial and solemn place ... the view to the north made it really clear why this was such an important accomplishment (the Canadians capturing the ridge in April 1917).

Ed tried last time we had internet access to upload some pics from London but no luck ... hopefully the next place we get to he can figure it out.

(and the last few entries had been sent to my blog via e-mail, which I've just discovered adds a wide variety of extra formatting characters that show up for some like gobbledegook. So, since I had a bit more time, I logged into Blogger to do this entry and will try to edit the others as I get time.)

As for the Tour, we ended up watching the Stage 1 finish on a bigscreen in St. James's park in London (near Buckingham Palace) which a was neat - all the British fans cheering when Millar took the polka dot King of the Mountains jersey, gasping when Cavendish crashed/changed bikes/seemed panicky, and cheered for McEwen's win ... Ed and I had given up on Robbie by that point, so even more than usual he came out of nowhere to win.

We checked into our hotel in Arras just in time to see the last 6 km of Stage 2, ie. big crash and Steegmans/Boonen 1 and 2. Good for Steegmans! Certainly looked like Boonen was trying and he told the French announcer "pas de cadeau" when asked.

And yesterday we got back in time to see the replays and hear the announcers go on and on about how "formidable" Cancellara was and "quel panache"!

To Paris tomorrow, my time is running out here now at this internet cafe.

Tour Prologue (or, "Free Souvenir Programs!! Please, take one, I mean it!")

It's been a busy few days. Saturday, Ed and I took the tube to Hyde Park Corner after breakfast, thought we'd have time to look around at the festival/displays for the Tour there before staking out a spot - but all of a sudden it was almost noon and it was starting to get crowded around the barriers on to the route, so we picked a spot (just past the final corner in Hyde Park where they turned to come back) and stayed there.

We had some Belgians next to us - which was good, they knew all the Belgian riders by sight so it was useful to hear "Allez Axel" or "Go Wim" when all we could see was a T-Mobile or Predictor-Lotto jersey go
by when the riders were warming up (ie. no numbers on yet, no team car
following with rider name). There were riders starting to warm up
along the course at about 12:30 pm, the caravan came through just
after 1 pm and riders were still weaving through the caravan to warm
up, then the warm up continued after the caravan as well.

Freebie count (from the Caravan and displays): Skoda hat (for Ed),
some Haribo candies, a county of Kent coaster, some Tour postcards, an
Orange broadband cardboard "periscope". We can add that to the little
foam bikes from the Opening Ceremony (that got blown into the crowd
rather than confetti).

Oh yeah, and our multitude of "free souvenir programs" - we got one on
Friday night, actually someone nearby us got one for us, and we were
concerned we might not be able to get another - shouldn't have
worried. You could have taken a stackful (at least where we were) on
Saturday and they'd probably thank you. One program girl was
particularly persistent, I think the call "Free Souvenir Programs" with the hint of desperation in her voice is etched into my brain
permanently (desperate as no one took any by the end of the prologue
because they already had one or more!).

Anyway, neat to see the riders come by on their warmup, initially some
chatting in groups but more serious and more speed with subsequent
laps. Big cheers for the first rider out for real, even though no one
really knew who he was (and I don't actually remember who it was, I
have to admit - Delgano I think it was). Big cheers for all the
British riders, and the father next to us had conditioned his 10-year
old son to be an Armstrong and now Hincapie fan - the kid said after
George went by, " I stood here all that time just to see that?" but he
seemed happy to have seen Big George.

We heard snippets of actual results - Dave Z in the lead, O'Grady
would have passed him had he not crashed, then Kloeden. Some Brits
near us were keeping track of times as best they could - between them
and our own observations we knew that Millar wasn't going to win,
Hincapie seemed fast as did Kloeden, and that Cancellara seemed to
blast them all away. So, we weren't surprised when we made our way
back near one of the big screens to see Cancellara in the yellow
jersey.

Really tired afterwards (and during) from standing so long ... so we
decided we wouldn't even go to the race start for Stage 1 (had already
decided not to go to Canterbury). But in the end, we saw the stage
finish in a neat way anyway...

Tour presentation

It didn't rain today! Did some more sight-seeing (Natural History
Museum, Harrod's, Piccadilly Circus), then ended up at Trafalgar
Square for the opening ceremony for the Tour about 1.5 hours early ...
already getting crowded there, but we had a pretty good spot to the
left of the stage in front of one of the big screens. Except that the
MC's kept getting in the way of the riders as they were interviewing
them... and one of the cameras kept getting in the way as well.
Still, I think Ed got some good shots, hopefully we'll get a chance to
put some up soon (as in, when Ed remembers to bring his USB cable to
the internet cafe).

Ed and I always laugh at the Olympics or similar when non-English
speaking athletes are interviewed, usually with the journalist going
on and on with some complicated question only to get the response,
"yes, I did good race today and happy" or similar ... couldn't help
but think of this when the Astana team was presented and both Vino and
Kash answered an English question in French (and Kash said about the
same as the above quote when pressed for something in English).

Went out for something to eat afterwards with a DP Forums member, neat
to meet someone whom you've only ever e-mailed :-) . Now, off to bed,
going to check out the cycling/Tour displays at Hyde Park tomorrow
before watching the Prologue (aka initial stage of the Tour).
M

Day 2 in London

Why is it that we leave a cold and rainy spring/start of summer in
Edmonton, and come to a cold and rainy London just as Edmonton gets
hot? (hear it was 32 C there today).

For any TV chef fans out there, last night we had dinner at a Gordon
Ramsay restaurant, Maze - it was very good (but I still liked Rob
Feenie's Lumiere better).

Today - the London Eye, a boat cruise, the Tate Modern, St Paul's
Cathedral (all Ed's prior stair-climbing training for City Chase paid
off to climb to the top there), and a comedy show this evening (The
Complete Works of Shakespeare - abridged).

Tomorrow - the Tour de France opening presentation at Trafalgar Square
!!!! (we walked by there today - looked like they were doing a dress
rehearsal, some grandstands and a couple of big screens in place
already).

Made it to London

All the security concerns yet we made it to London no problems, just
tired - why do they show comedies on the plane where everyone has to
break into full laughter while others are trying to sleep?

Bikes seem to be ok too, only damage was a lost luggage tag :-) -
they x-rayed "oversized baggage" in our presence so no need to open
the bike cases (and potentially for them not to get it closed again,
that was our biggest worry).

Nice dinner tonight to celebrate my birthday, to the London Eye and
other sight-seeing tomorrow, then Tour de France stuff starts on
Friday. For now - it's bedtime. I mean, it's 2:30 pm in Edmonton and
I hardly got any sleep at all last night (or, it's 9:30 pm here and I
hardly got any sleep at all last night, take your pick - either way,
we're tired!)

Our Plan...

Just thought maybe I'd post what we're planning for our trip. The Tour de France starts in London this year (I realize any cycling fans already know this, but there are potentially other friends and family reading this as well so I have to remember not to assume they know all about the Tour ;-) ). "Le Grand Départ" takes place from July 6-8, with the opening ceremony at Trafalgar Square on Friday evening, a prologue individual time-trial stage through central London on Saturday, and the first road stage from London to Canterbury on Sunday. We plan to watch the opening ceremony, the prologue stage, and to try to get out to Canterbury to watch the stage finish on Sunday.

On Monday we go by train (Eurostar - through the Channel Tunnel) to Arras in Northern France for a few days. We plan to cycle out to the Canadian war memorial at Vimy Ridge which is nearby, plus explore the area.

Then, we join a group trip in Paris to see the mountain stages of the Tour de France, with daily cycling options to vantage points to watch the race (seeing as it will be the mountain stages, that usually involves riding up a mountain pass a few hours before the Tour comes through). You might think that all there is will be a bunch of cyclists whizzing by each day, but there is actually the "caravan" of sponsors that goes through first each day (almost like a parade, from what I understand, with lots of freebies), and on the mountain stages the riders get quite spread out so there could be a half hour or more between the first and last riders going by. Plus, the atmosphere of the Tour is also what we're interested in - it's like the Stanley Cup playoffs here in Canada (generally without the Whyte Avenue riots of 2006 in Edmonton though).

We have a few days in Paris on our own at the end, including seeing the final stage of the Tour on the Champs Elysees, before heading home on August 1.

Testing testing ...

Just trying the feature whereby I send an e-mail to an address at
blogger.com and it shows up as a post on my blog - because sometimes
on our trip it might be easier to simply be checking and sending
e-mail rather than also signing into blogger as well.

Training

I've posted about some of our "training" experiences on my other blog - Coronation Triathlon, a long ride with Alex Stieda, and the MS Bike Tour.

Cycling Camp in Jasper - Day 3

We just had a short session on Sunday morning after sleeping in a bit - a nice leisurely ride around some of the local lakes (Edith, Annette, Beauvert) then over to Whistlers Campground where we practiced sprinting on the road leading into the campground. Then back to town, and we were done.

Overall, a very enjoyable weekend and a good boost to my confidence with less than 2 months to go before our trip to France in July. Yes, I was tired and my legs were sore, but I did it!

Cycling Camp in Jasper - Day 2

On Saturday morning, we went to a nearby (deserted) parking lot to practice cornering skills, then again rode up Pyramid Lake Road to practice proper climbing and descending technique. That's a fun road to ride down - the pavement was great (not like all the potholes and gravel here in Edmonton at the moment), so I felt confident to just go fast rather than worry about cracks/bumps in the road - and short enough that I wasn't worried about going too fast either. We had a filmmaker with us all day today, Chris Wilberg, who directed the documentary about Lori-Ann Muenzer, "One Gear No Breaks" - Chris and Alex are apparently putting together a skills DVD about road cycling.

Then, we did our mountain climb up to the base of Marmot Basin.



This was our big climb, on Saturday afternoon - my group started from the turnoff from highway 93A, rode up to the base of Marmot Basin ski area then down then back to town. 11 km total from the turnoff to the top, average grade of about 5.5-6 % (calculating from the topo map, as none of the group members who had Garmins actually knew how to use the grade/elevation functions), 1 hr 15 min up for me. And we even made it to the top before the faster riders caught up to us (they rode from town then up the climb, whereas we saved our energy for the climb by driving to the base). Perhaps the bear seen by the two in front (we had to get passing-tourists' cars to ride beside us for protection just in case the bear hadn't actually run away like we thought) provided that last burst of adrenaline to get us to the top ...



I rode with Wendy, and it was a good feeling to finally realize what others have told me about climbing - you just get in your own rhythm and keep on going. The hills around home (what few there are) aren't really long enough to get into any sort of rhythm, the tendency is to just try to power over them - which wouldn't be the best strategy for these longer climbs.


Riding back into town, I rode beside Alex most of the way - just a neat feeling to be riding along in the mountains and discussing cycling with a former pro cyclist and Tour de France yellow-jersey holder.

We had a group dinner that night (and even Ed was invited), where "awards" were handed out - I got the "Cycling Fan" award (not sure if that was because of the Davitamon-Lotto jerseys I'd been wearing, or my conversations with Alex, or a bit of both - lol). We discovered that both Alex and Chris had ridden with Ed's brother Pete back in the day - small world (Pete was formerly on the national track team). After dinner, we went back to the hotel lounge and Alex showed a video from the Tour of Georgia as an introduction to racing to those who'd never really seen any before - plus some of his photos from his racing days and from his Tour trips. And we watched a bit of the Giro opening day Team Time Trial highlights on cycling.tv.

Cycling Camp in Jasper - Day 1

Last weekend, I attended the Diva Skills Camp (women only) from "Alex Stieda Cycling" that I attended, based in Jasper National Park in the Rocky Mountains (about 4 hours' drive from where we live). I thought it would be a good opportunity to get in some longer rides and some actual climbing on real mountains rather than just in and out of the North Saskatchewan River valley (the only hills around here). And, it certainly lived up to expectations in that regard. (Ed tagged along to do some riding on his own).

We had a mixed group, from some experienced Ironman triathletes and those who had ridden with Stieda on one of his Tour trips previously, to a few who were riding mountain bikes initially (but rented road bikes by the next day). I was somewhere in the middle, quite literally actually on the first long ride.

Friday morning we met most of the group over breakfast, then went to a local grass field (fenced in so the elk and deer don't eat all the grass, just like every house in Jasper pretty much) to practice some bike handling skills drills. Then we rode up the Pyramid Lake Road while practising drafting and riding in a group (average 3.3% grade over 6 km then another 1 km to the end of the road, roughly figuring from my topo map).

In the afternoon, we left from Jasper townsite, road along the highway for a bit, then crossed the bridge and headed up the Maligne Lake Road, hoping to get as far as Medicine Lake. Initially I was able to stay with the main group, even up the first few climbs (well, actually the road seemed to be mostly uphill, but somewhat undulating). Eventually I fell behind, but didn't realize that I was as far back as I was (such that the front group didn't wait for me, probably thinking I'd dropped back to join the 2 on mountain bikes). Unfortunately, they were so far behind I never actually saw them again, nor did I see the front group - but it was a great day for riding and I enjoyed my ride.

Because I was on my own, when it came to the time we'd agreed to turn around I stopped and waited for about 10-15 minutes, thinking that the other group would catch back up to me on their return. When that didn't happen, I powered down the hills thinking I'd catch up to the other two - but no. Even though it's basically off-season right now for Jasper and the town was mostly deserted (compared to summer or ski season), there were still semi-regular tour buses and other tourists going to Maligne Lake, so I never felt particularly worried about being on my own. (I understand that normally Alex's wife rides at his camps/trips as well, which probably helps ensure no one is on their own, but she had broken her arm the month before).

When I got a chance to look at some maps to see how far along the road I ended up (I turned around at the Watchtower trailhead), I realized that I probably only had to make it up that one more hill that had intimidated me a bit, then a bit of easier riding for a few km to get to Medicine Lake. Oh well, next time I'll get there.

(overall distance for me that afternoon = 43.9 km, initially flat by the highway, then about 2-2.5% grade average uphill, again roughly from the topo map)




Ed rode from the town out to the eastern park boundary and back, about 100km. Too bad for him that the return trip was into a strong headwind and he'd forgotten his energy bars (and the store at Pocohontas near the turnaround was closed when he went by).

First day riding to work this spring

The weather forecast was for potential showers later in the morning (I thought) but mostly cloudy, and it wasn't raining when I woke up or when I left, so I thought it would be fine to ride to work and back last Wednesday. When it started raining a bit about a third of the way into my ride, I had a few second thoughts, but it was really more of a mist than rain so I kept going. I had a pretty good ride (50 minutes - not bad for the first time this year when I wasn't pushing hard).

During the day it seemed to get more and more ominous-looking outside, and seemed to be raining most of the day. The forecast had changed from "19 C and cloudy" for the afternoon to "13 C and rain" - but the rain was supposedly going to stop in the late afternoon or evening, so I delayed leaving for home a bit. Finally by 5 pm (clinic closes at 4 pm since May 1) I really had no more work left to possibly do, so I left for home.

As it was really the first time I'd ridden my road bike in wet rainy conditions, I was really quite cautious. Particularly down the switchbacks on the Keillor Road trail (lots of dirt/mud/dead leaves there too - good potential for slipping and falling I figured and I had done that enough last year). It was a good ride in the sense that it was good for my confidence to get more experience riding in unfavourable conditions (and to realize that it's really no big deal). But it was kind of miserable, even if it really wasn't raining all that hard.

Then, as I reached Patricia Heights school (about 2/3 of the way home), my cell phone rang. Normally I would likely have forgotten to turn it on, but that day I was hoping that a surgeon would call me back to answer a question I had about a patient ... pulled over to the side of the road and answered, it was Ed. He asked where I was, and sounded quite relieved - told me to turn left not right after crossing the upcoming ravine, and said "what are the chances of having two punctures in the same ride?". So, he'd already changed his back tire once in the rain, and punctured again (actually it turned out the valve broke) but only had brought one spare tube so he needed mine.

I met up with him, watched him change his tube (he figured afterwards he should have had me do it for practice - but by that time the rain was getting heavier and heavier so he would have been a lot quicker at it that I would have been), then we set off for the last bit home. About 6 blocks to go and he punctured again ... the rain was so hard by then I just kept going (he said he'd be ok to walk). In the end it turned out there was a really sharp tiny piece of gravel embedded in his tire that he'd missed (hence the multiple punctures on the same back wheel).

It was a good test of our new rain jackets. And we both wondered, was this the kind of weather that they kept mentioning was more common for the Spring Classics than the hot dry weather they actually had this April in Northern Europe???
(we should have taken the photo about 10-15 minutes earlier when there was torrential rain - it had slowed down considerably by this point and the flash makes it look much brighter than it really was).

RONA MS Bike Tour

Ed and I have signed up to do this Bike Tour June 9-10, from Leduc to Camrose and back (approx. 180 km total), as part of our preparation for our trip to France - and also to raise money for the MS Society of Canada. If you'd like to donate to help me reach my fundraising goal, you can do so online here.

Thanks!

Finally, all our photos!

We finally got all our photos organized (ie. labels and some commentary) and posted at smugmug. Enjoy!

Bike boxes did arrive

Yes, the bike cases did arrive on Monday, 2 days after we arrived back to Edmonton. So much for "they'll call you before they deliver them" though - Ed found out they'd been delivered via the tracking system on the FedEx website. So he went home at lunch to rescue the wine inside (can't take it as a carry-on anymore) as it was -20 C or so - that and to make sure no one could steal them, though in our sleepy neighbourhood on a weekday likely no one would notice 2 big boxes on our front verandah.

A little bit worse for wear (they didn't look that beaten-up when we saw the boxes in Calgary at customs)...

Home, almost in one piece...

We arrived home last night, too bad that the bike cases we bought didn't :-(. We were told that the Dash-8 we were on from Calgary was too full and they tend not to have enough space for oversized luggage when they're full (there seemed to be a number of others in the baggage office from the same flight looking for their luggage). The baggage agent told us that it would probably arrive on another flight from Calgary later that night and would be delivered to us this morning.

So, morning came and went, nothing. And we were a bit concerned that their "baggage tracker" feature had no information (as if they didn't know where the cases were - *we* knew they were in Calgary, why didn't Air Canada know that?). So Ed called their toll-free number this afternoon - again, they had no information (though they were likely in Toronto, we couldn't find a local number to call). But I felt much better later just now when according to the baggage tracker, the cases have been received at the airport and have been turned over to FedEx for delivery.

(though, considering they'll probably try to deliver tomorrow when we're at work and then we'll have to pick it up somewhere else anyway, it might have been easier to just pick the cases up at the airport - but that didn't seem to be an available option).

I'm just glad that we'll be on a direct flight, big plane, from Edmonton to London in July, so less opportunity for something like this to happen to our bikes then. If on the way home (Paris to Toronto to Edmonton) the bikes get delayed in Toronto a few days, oh well...

And just for good measure, here's a photo of Mario Aerts in the prologue as he was trying to fix his chain (he didn't get a team car following him to help), as mentioned here:

Nick Gates Fan Club

The Gates fan club is an ongoing thread on the Daily Peloton forums, we posted some more of our photos there.

Stage 4 – Seaside to San Luis Obispo (Feb 22)

Our original plan was that we’d go to the start of the stage in Seaside, so we had figured that to see the finish also would mean that we’d have to take the un-scenic freeway inland to SLO - since it would be already dark so we wouldn’t be able to take the scenic coastal highway 1 back afterwards, so it didn’t seem very practical. Then, we realized that as we’d *already* seen a start (in Sausalito), we could just skip this start entirely, and take the scenic highway to SLO - but we’d have to leave early and make sure we stayed well ahead of the race. That turned out to be one of the best decisions of our trip.

We heard afterwards, in SLO from a volunteer who’d been at Seaside and decided to drive down for the finish, that really nothing much happened in Seaside because of the rain – all the riders stayed inside the team vehicles until absolutely necessary, so there was none of the access to riders we had seen in Sausalito or San Francisco. And it was raining pretty hard then, so it wouldn’t have been pleasant to stand outside for any length of time.

Instead, we left Monterey at about 9 am (an hour ahead of the race). I was thinking that we might not actually see any of the scenic coastal views because of the rain and fog/mist, but it actually cleared up for the most part relatively quickly.

At the first few scenic viewpoints towards Big Sur and some of the bridges, we realized one of the benefits of our plan – we’d get to see some of what happens ahead of the race. All part of the overall experience, adding to the “atmosphere” of what was going on, and stuff we would have missed simply driving the express route to SLO. What we first noticed was all the photographers already staking out the prime spots for their “peloton along the coast” or “peloton going across the bridge” shots. There was even a local TV reporter interviewing one of them.

Then we started seeing some of the road signs, “25 km” or “5 km to 1st KOM”, “1 km to KOM”, “200 m to Sprint”, so that was interesting too – gave me a better appreciation of the overall race course for this stage. We also saw quite a number of cyclists, some in groups, riding the course ahead of the race as well (didn’t see Saul Raisin though I was watching out to see if he was there). As some went by at one point while we were stopped for a break, I overheard one calling to another “remember how last year this section was like doing cyclocross?” – when we started driving again, I realized what they meant as there was major construction going on, the road was really rough and down to one lane. There were also a lot of wet leaves on the road so I figured the descents could be quite treacherous.

And the scenery was spectacular. We stopped a few times to take pictures, including one stop for a rock formation just past a lighthouse – then realized that we had stopped where all the elephant seals were. So we spent some time there looking around and taking photos, ate our picnic lunch there as well.

We arrived in SLO at about 1:30 pm, almost 2 hours before the earliest predicted arrival time – enough time to check out the “Lifestyle Festival” again (and say hi to Dave Shields again) before staking out a vantage point at the 50 m to go banner. We thought about watching from the corner further back because of the crash possibility there if it was wet – in the end it had dried out and our chosen spot was great.

The riders certainly do come by quite fast in a sprint finish – all I could tell was that Ciolek (T-Mobile) seemed to be ahead and that Bettini was in there as well (Bettini won at the line). Looking back, my photo also had Brown, Hushovd, and a bit of Haedo in there as well. And then we cheered for all the other riders coming in later … too bad the guy beside me threw his hands in the air to cheer as Cancellara came by (and ruined my photo), by the time my camera could get another shot all that was left was his back half again (just like in the prologue).

We thought we were in a good spot to be able to get over to see the podium presentation, but couldn’t really move from where we were easily and then they opened up the course so all these people initially further away than we were could get right up to the presentation area – oh well. Ed’s camera has a good zoom so he got some good photos – mine had too many other cameras and hands and heads in the way.

Then, as everyone pretty much left, we looked around some more to see where the team vehicles would have been … ran into Bob Roll (TV commentator for Versus/OLN and former pro cyclist), then realized who the last few team cars were waiting for when we saw the Credit Agricole KOM jersey leader make a quick getaway – the Discovery car (driven by Ekimov) was likely waiting for Leipheimer as overall race leader and the Quick-Step car was likely waiting for Bettini as the stage winner (as they’d have to go to doping control plus do a press conference before leaving). And we were right – more photos and autographs.

We had a tasty dinner in SLO before driving back to Monterey (the inland route – would *not* want to drive the coastal route in the dark) – overall a really fun day. We’re thinking that next time we’ll have to plan to see more stages …

Response to "patrickbpenguin fan" part 2

Bobke, then stage winner Bettini ...

Stage 4 finish - San Luis Obispo

Drove along the scenic highway 1 through Big Sur, ahead of the race (by about 1-2 hours), to catch the finish in SLO today. Interesting to see the markers for distance (eg. 25 km to go), plus the sprint and KOM markers ... plus all the photographers staking out vantage points at all the most scenic areas (pics will follow later, takes too long to upload everything via wireless).

Exciting sprint finish, all I could tell as they went by was that Ciolek was in the lead and Bettini was close. And afterwards, we were looking around to see where the team cars were and figuring everyone had left - then noted a Discovery car and a Quick Step car so we hung around and managed to catch Leipheimer (race leader) and Bettini (stage winner) after doping control and press conferences...

Response to "patrickbpenguin fan"

Where's Ed, you ask? He said initially he didn't want his picture public - but then due to fan adulation such as yours, he changed his mind. So here he is, with Gasparotto (we think, or at least Chris thinks) and the great Gatesie:

Random thoughts from Stage 1

I never really posted much yet about our Stage 1 experience in Sausalito, other than photos, as there's really been no time ... a few thoughts for the time being:
- amazing the amount of access the fans have to the pro riders, not like any other sport I can think of (though I'm sure it won't be like that at the Tour de France in July).
- amazing bike-handling skills the pros have, weaving through the crowds of fans in the teams area to get to the start and avoiding hitting each other or any fans.
- interesting the contrast between the teams, Discovery was nowhere to be found that we saw (we actually saw their team bus heading off in a different direction, maybe there was no room left in the main area or maybe they wanted more privacy), big crowds for certain teams (CSC) or riders (Bettini), not so big crowds for some (Predictor-Lotto riders were hanging out between 2-3 cars), and no crowds for others (Jelly Belly and several other Continental teams were all sitting in chairs lounging around in front of their team vehicles with no interruptions - got a good pic but haven't had a chance to upload yet). Oh, and we saw a few of the Priority-Health riders going for coffee across the street around 9:45 am - I imagine that the ProTour riders have someone to go for them or a coffee maker on their team bus...
- the Predictor-Lotto guys were going through their food bags, paper bags labeled "Davitamon-Lotto" so it would appear the team is thrifty enough to go through old supplies first ;-) .
- we saw Bettini being interviewed by a Velonews reporter, haven't checked their website yet to see if the interview is posted.

Not being at the finish in Santa Rosa, we missed the big crash - I was quite concerned that we'd jinxed Nick Gates as apparently he was the most seriously injured, initially a suspected broken hip but apparently only bruised in the end and he's still in the race. But he made the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle sports page.


Now to bed early, going to try to drive the scenic highway through Big Sur to San Luis Obispo to see the finish of Stage 4 tomorrow - have to get on the highway before all the riders come through, or else take the less-exciting freeway inland, so we'll miss the start in Seaside (we figure we've already seen a start now).

Pilgrimage for family heritage

Today was mainly a travel day for us, as we moved from San Francisco to Monterey. We had a change in plans, in that yesterday we discovered that the USPS website wasn't very clear about acceptable measurements for packages so they wouldn't ship the bike cases we had bought and hauled by foot 2 blocks to the post office. So, we took them back to the bike shop overnight and returned today after picking up our rental car (plan B for shipping = FedEx, plan C = as baggage on Air Canada).

Which meant that we were actually in San Francisco with a rental car (not our original plan) - so as we were going out to the coastal highway to drive to Monterey, we were able to take the time to visit the Roald Amundsen monument at the western edge of Golden Gate Park. Amundsen was my great-grandfather's cousin, and as an explorer was the first to reach the South Pole. He was also the first to navigate the Northwest Passage, and the monument was initially there with his ship, the Gjoa, in which he made that voyage. The ship was apparently moved to Oslo, Norway, in 1972. In researching where the monument was located, I learned that it was 100 years ago from last October when the Gjoa arrived in San Francisco after the historic voyage through the Northwest Passage. (and when I visited the monument with my family in 1983, I don't recall it being in the middle of a parking lot - apparently the nearby "Beach Chalet" which was closed in 1983 has since been renovated and reopened, and presumably the parking lot was enlarged significantly).

Free stuff ...

(other than the wine tastings thanks to my brother working for the company that owns the vineyard we visited today) ...

standing on the main street in Sausalito after the peloton had just left, a guy comes up to me and asks "so, you must be a big Lotto team fan I suppose?" (I was wearing a Davitamon-Lotto jersey). After I replied yes, he said that they were sponsors of the Lotto team and he was looking for someone to give one of their hats to - so I got a Pedro's 2007 Tour of California hat (had to look them up online, they're the official "bicycle care products" sponsor for the team).

Today's pics

...watched the start, then went for wine tasting in Napa Valley with Dan and Megan.

Time for pics

Levi yesterday (50-60 m from the finish line)

The Winner Yesterday

Levi Leipheimer, when interviewed at the end of the race, said that he was going so hard he thought he'd throw up - but also that he wished it was longer because the crowds were great and then he could put even more time into the others (IIRC).

(was going to put up a pic of Levi here, but the connection keeps stalling when trying to upload so it will have to wait until later).

During the Prologue

Estimated that we walked at least 10 km today overall, as not only did we walk 2 km or so from our hotel to the race start and back again, but we walked from the start to the end of the prologue course (3 km) in time to see the last few riders finish, then back to the start again. Interestingly enough, both times I've been to Coit Tower I've walked there and up Telegraph Hill ... but it seemed a lot easier today than it did 10 years ago, I guess I wasn't in great shape during my medical residency then (no time to exercise then).

As mentioned in "Before the Prologue", we noticed that some riders we were interested in were starting in the first half-hour, so figured we'd stay at the start for at least that long to watch. These included Ivan Basso at 13:26, Jens Voigt at 13:28, Henk Vogels at 13:29, and Nick Gates at 13:30.

I was thinking that it must be quite stressful to be the first rider up, as he had to stand there for a lot of talk plus a ribbon-cutting ... but I suppose they get used to it. The 2nd rider was Ben Jacques-Maynes, who ended up 3rd for the day; and the 7th rider up was Jason Donald, who ended up 2nd for the day - led the race right until the very end. Interesting that the commentators (not Phil, Paul and Bob for the public announcements) pointed out that a year ago Donald was driving a garbage truck for a living.

Surprised to see Allan Davis riding for Discovery (he wasn't on the start list of a few days ago, and I didn't know that he'd been "officially" signed by Discovery - must have finally sorted out the whole Astana/Saiz contract mess I suppose). The 2nd Discovery rider was Ivan Basso, winner of the Giro d'Italia last year but first race back after missing the Tour de France due to the Operation Puerto doping scandal (nothing yet has been proved against Basso so he's cleared to ride for the time being). Once Basso reached the end the announcer pointed out that Jason Donald must be excited to be ahead of Basso at such a race - little did the announcer realize then that Donald would be ahead of almost everyone! (and we didn't realize either until we got back to our hotel how anyone was doing overall).

The announcer made a big deal about Jens Voigt being "well-liked" and "the most aggressive rider I've ever seen" and "riding for the team". Then came Henk Vogels (last year on "my team", Davitamon-Lotto now Predictor-Lotto) and next his former team-mate Nick Gates.

After that, we started walking along the course, and the crowds thinned out considerably. Along the Embarcadero we got a much better sense of the speed at which the riders could achieve than we did right at the start, obviously. We saw Stuart O'Grady, Dave Zabriskie (wasn't really expecting him so soon, actually he went past and I had to think "who would be in a CSC jersey that looks like it has Stars and Stripes on it?" before I realized it was Dave Z, American time-trial national champion), and Michael Rasmussen along this straight flat stretch before the climb.

Some helpful course marshals with lists of the start times would call out who was coming next (or else you could sidle up beside them and look over their shoulder at the list... I'm still a bit peeved that the organizers couldn't be bothered to put up a list of start times anywhere that I could see - it did go up online, but *after* we left this morning so too late for us).

At the first corner we were trying (with others) to hang over the edge (inside corner) but were pushed back by the marshals - then when a rider came around and we realized how close they were taking the corner, we were quite thankful for their action.

More free stuff - Toyota had a lot of people giving things away, free cowbell and thundersticks (the inflatable things you can bang together, really annoying in a closed space like a hockey arena).

Then starting up the climb. Poor Mario Aerts - lost his chain just after the start of the climb, and no team car behind him to help so he had to get it back on himself. At least I know now that I'm not the only one who that happens to (happened to me last July and I sprained my wrist as I wasn't quick enough to recognize what happened and couldn't unclick from my pedals in time so I went down).

A bit further up the climb, we saw riders such as Hincapie, Dionne, Cancellara and Horner - seemed to me like Cancellara was flying compared to others (and afterwards I realized that he probably was, as those who came ahead of him except the winner hadn't reached their full speed when we saw them near the start). I overheard a course marshal telling someone nearby that Chris Horner is the "coolest" and that you'll always see him smile even up the climb.

Further still, crowds were getting deeper again - Vande Velde, Barry, Hushovd (seemed pretty fast), Bettini, Hesjedal. Amusing that someone tried to start a chant "Paolo Paolo" before Bettini rode by, someone yelled out "I'd join in if I knew what you were saying" (presumably some observers weren't exactly super-knowledgeable cycling fans).

Then from 50 m to go for the last few riders - including Fast Freddie, Bobby Julich, Gesink from Rabobank, Mick Rogers, and Levi Leipheimer - huge cheers when Levi crossed the line 1 second ahead to win the day. (in less than 5 minutes, I might add ... we were impressed at how fast they can ride up the steep climb!)

pics to follow when we get time ...