Well, after spending a couple of hours trying to fix the rear derailer, I gave up and dropped the bike off at the LBS. So, no riding today, but with a bit of luck, the shop might have it ready tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed. So for today, here is a photo for you to admire. 🙂
Aussie Champ, Shane Kelly.
Today the wind blew again, and about 5kms into the ride, a tree branch flew across the rode and hit my leg, and also the rear derailer. I spent the next 9kms holding the shifter at half way between gear changes so the chain would stay on 1 cog. Bugger.
No photos today. Wasn’t on the bike long enough.
Is it just me, or do other people think this years Tour is having a more nervous first week than normal. Yesterday, stage 5, they were dropping like flies. A moto cleaned up Nicki Sorensen and was sent home. Contador hit the deck. Brajkovic ended up in the back of an ambo and Gesink looked pretty beat up.
They have already hit the road in the longest stage of the tour, stage 6, Carhaix to Cap Fréhel.
JEAN-FRANÇOIS PESCHEUX’S ANALYSIS : An opportunity for the puncheurs.
“The Tour’s longest stage is not flat. Because we are in Normandy, the route is rolling. We will have to wait and see what happens with any breakaway riders. Although it’s not ‘a wall’ of 10%, there is a decent climb 1.5km from the finish in front of the basilica in Lisieux. Some good riders are sure to lose contact there because the peloton is bound to split apart. If a breakaway group is still clear, not all of them will be able to stay with the pace at this point. A stage profile of this type does not suit the Tour’s favourites, and certainly not a pure climber such as Andy Schleck, but will suit a puncheur. Once again, just like the finish on the Mûr-de-Bretagne, the qualities of a rider in the mould of Philippe Gilbert will come to the fore on a stage like this.”
This post dedicated to Big Georges calves. I have seen them about 30 times on Twitter today, and it isn’t something a man should have to see 30 times!
Tonights ride was pretty cruisey, legs are a bit sore after a few days in the wind.
Wind, wind, wind. It would have blown the freckles off a ginger out there today. Good thing I was back on the speed machine and even with that nicety I didn’t manage to best an average speed of 25kph.
TdF preview may not happen tonight. If it doesn’t, keep up the good work Cuddles.
Last night, stage 3, and the biggest surprise to me was the failure of the HTC lead out train at the end. They delivered Cavendish to 1st in the peleton at the intermediate sprint, but came unstuck at the end. Farrar taking a win for the USA on the 4th July.
Tonight, and another interesting stage. I will leave it to an expert to analyse.
JEAN-FRANÇOIS PESCHEUX’S ANALYSIS : Brittany’s “mountain”
“This stage provides some innovation with a finish on the summit of the Mûr-de-Bretagne, which comes at the end of a beautiful but very tough two-kilometre climb. The road rises in such a straight line that even from the bottom the finish is almost visible. It’s going to be impressive, with steep ramps right from the bottom. But even before getting to that point, there is a series of hills in central Brittany where the twisting roads can be a real slog. The riders will have to be on their guard because these could lead to splits in the peloton and, consequently, a surprise or two. What is for sure is that there won’t be any sprinters in contention. Look instead for riders in the mould of Philippe Gilbert or Thomas Voeckler.”
Everyone seems to be saying Evans will be in Yellow by the end of this stage. I really hope not. It is too early.
I think I must have hit 88MPH on the way home today and been struck by lightning, because this afternoon I ended up riding the old Holstar as part of my norbs Tour de France Challenge. But wait, lets get in the DeLorean and travel back to this morning.
As you know, I busted another spoke over the weekend. So this morning I dropped the bike off at the bike shop to have it fixed. Drew at the shop said to pick it up at 3PM. No worries. Well it has been blowing like a bastard all day here today, with reports of gusts up to 100kph. “This is going to make for a terrific ride later on” I thought. 3PM I head over to the bike shop. What, wait. The shop is shut. There is a sign up. “Closed because of black out” But, my bike is in there. Oh, the humanity!
Driving home I am thinking about my options. The old flatbar is in the shop getting a once over before being sold. I still have 3 bikes at home. The brides flatbar that is way way to small. A bike scavenged from the tip that has no brakes or the old MTB turned into a shopping bike with single speed and fat knobby tyres. It is the same bike I rode from Sydney to Melbourne many years ago on the www.helpnorbshelpthekids.com charity ride.
As you can see form the photo below, it is no speed machine. Set up so I can get groceries on it, I can do about 17kph at 110RPM. Oh joy joy.
Well I tried to do my 1 hour minimum, but I failed. No lights, no bottle, and branches falling off trees and crashing into the ground sent me home 18 minutes shy of my aim.
I will leave it to my cycling peers to decide whether today counts, or the whole project has gone down the gurgler after just 4 days.
What thinks you dear reader?
The Speed Demon, Holly.
Tonight is Stage 3 of the 2011 Tour de France. And what a cracker it is shaping up to be.
Last night Teams Time Trial was excellent. Saxo Bank went out first and scorched the 23km circuit up. Actually, many think they went out to hard and actually slowed near the end. Some of the lesser teams then went out before the big guns appeared. Watching the climbers from a lot of teams falling of the back just showed how hard the teams were pushing. Sky were probably the favourites due to Wiggins being an excellent time trialist, but they came up 4 seconds short of Team Garmin Cervelo who blitzed the short course, averaging very close to 60kph!
BMC did an incredible job to come in with a time equal to Sky and Leopard Trek, and 1 second faster than HTC Highroad.
You had to feel sorry for poor old Gilbert, his team Omega Pharam – Lotto just didn’t have the horsepower to keep him in yellow.
The God of thunder, Thor Hushovd, now gets to ride around in yellow for stage 3 with Evans just behind him in the Polka dot jersey.
Stage 3 is about as flat as they get, with a Cat 4 climb 143km into the stage. With 1 intermediate sprint point, it should be a day for the sprinters today.
Todays ride was tough due to the wind. At one stage, coming out of the shelter of a bank of trees, I nearly got blown off the bike.
Despite the wind, there is another hour in the bank for the norbs Tour de France Challenge.
It probably isn’t the best preparation for a ride. Got to bed at just after 2AM and was woken up at 7AM. Try as I might, I couldn’t get back to sleep. So after some arsing about around the house, I set off under beautiful blue skies but a bit of a breeze coming from the NE.
It was an easy ride until I approached a few young blokes on those tiny little motorbikes that look like death traps. They were putting along and as I went past they gunned it and caught up. I was doing about 25kph and they wanted to race. Ah, why not. Off we went. Up and out of the saddle and before I knew it they were gone! I had got to 40kph up a slight hill and the heart was going mad. I’m probably to old and fat for this sort of shenanigans!
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