Wednesday, June 29, 2011

TDF, in Les Essarts

Start Ville de Etappe of Sunday next is sunny and breezy and all is well with the world except Georgethecyclist is around the area already but whilst he was here yesterday has not appeared as yet today thus i will be in search of him amongst others shortly .

Posted today  www.tourdafrance.blogspot.com  about the journey here yesterday and a post about Heavy Goods Vehicles is in place on www.skippi-cyclist.blogspot.com .

Mostly i will post to tourdafrance in the next days as there are "Free Conti Cycle items " on offer until Friday when the offer will close !

 


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Monday, June 27, 2011

LAST DAYS

UNBELIEVABLE that people choose not to help others !

To date there appears to be little interest in helping me to give a "Conti 4000s clincher " to a "Para Athlete "! I realise that you can go out and buy an inner tube for peanuts but in sending out these items "snailpost" will still want me to dig into my pocket for the coin of the realm .

Repeating the requirements seems pointless , nevertheless :

You are helping another by posting in the comments box on www.tourdafrance.blogspot.com the "para athlete of your choice and their contact details . Once the total reached 35 followers there was a Tyre for them and an inner tube for you . Had the total gone to 60 followers then there would have been an additional tyre available and the proposer would have received an inner tube .

Simple really but i guess if you are reading this whilst the boss is out of the office finding the National Paralympic website of your country might take a little effort .

Had the project been successful i had hoped there would have been many new identities that people could follow as they prepared to compete in the LONDON 2012 PARALYMPIC . Many of these may already have served their country in "Harm's Way" and are now embarking on service once again !

Help4Heroes & Wounded Warrior Project are two of those charities that deserve your support and following some of their participants exploits would have been inspirational as well as worthwhile !

Could be my last post before i arrive in the Vendee for the TDF so will enjoy the thrill of finding that there are some out there that think of others !

 

 

 


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Thursday, June 16, 2011

Competition Time

limitedOpto advise thati have abunch of Goodies to give away.

Sign on as follower on Tourdafrance.blogspot & @skippydetourto compete for Conti 4000S tyres>

Details of rules follow during next days .

Be in it to win and help Paralympic Athletes .

 

 


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Monday, June 13, 2011

GRINDELWALD for Tour de Suisse

Amazing scenery with thoughtful drivers who do not sit in your boot whilst awaiting the riskiest overtaking manouver usually on a blind corner or in the tunnel but double white lines do not exist in their vision !

French and Italian drivers treat all in the same way , tourists are no different to their neighbour , if they could push you off the road to save a fraction of a second , so be it . Swiss drivers tend to be methodical and considerate and even anticipate pedestrians as they approach a crossing .

Weather here in Grindelwald is drizzily but after the sunshine yesterday and a lot of riding a few hours off the bike will be welcome . Hopefully the racers will enjoy better weather in the afternoon for their climbs and the arrival with it being downhill will be interesting .

Yesterday i managed to load the video shot in Alp d'huez to You tube and when i find a speedier computer i will be able to add that and other photos to the blog , each time i change a post it seems that the advice goes up so if you decide to visit the youtube item it is 120Mb but i have learned a few lessons from that so later video iotems i hope will be shorter and use less MB !

 

 


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Thursday, June 9, 2011

20 million Euros

During the ITT at Grenoble yesterday i came across Paul Raats who took photos of me on the finish line in Rome May 2009 , i received one photo but not the ones needed for the blog. During the chat he mentioned a Dutch Event taking place on Alp d'Huez on thursday . He said over 5000 people would be riding to raise funds for a Cancer Cause . Last year over 12 million Euros were raised and this year the target is 20 million !

Today instead of joining the Dauphine i headed south to Bourg Oisans and joined the people mostly wearing Lycra of a blue ,white and red combination . Some had their head sponsor on their kit , others had 2009 or 2010 kit but it was a river of colour . Started climbing at about 9.30 and the first ascent took about 1hr 10 mins but found that i was passing a lot of people on triple chain wheels even so . At the top i discovered that some were into their third ascent of the day , which would explain why i was even passing young guys . Several did pass me but noting the numbers i was able to repass all but two who looked far too professional .

On a later climb i found "hand bikers" and continued to the top but stopped for a chat , as they rested , when i was descending . Appears there were two teams with a couple of solo entries . Any of you used a hand bike ? Well some years ago i did and i am able to tell you that even with training the physical effort is in the realm of 6 to 8 times more difficult than pedalling ! You would not choose to drive a hand bike up once let alone multiple times but i saw three of them beavering away once again as i was on my final climb . Where they find the energy defies imagination but they were well supported by volunteers and well applauded by the bystanders on the route .

 

On descending for the final time i came across a Tour Group who were having a training camp and had come across to climb Alp d'Huez and ride nearby . One of their number rode through a tunnel on the road to Les2alp and the front wheel dropped into a groove made by the maintainance workers , rather like tram tracks with the same result . Spilled from the bike he took a knock and thus the ambulance trip to Grenoble for 24hrs observation as mandated by French Regulations . Earlier in the day i had thought of riding to Les2alps to lunch with my friends there but time got away .

Before cycling today i was on the internet and posted a new thread about "Tondo" and my suspicion that he was murdered to prevent his testimony . By visiting www.skippyblogging.blogspot.com/heartfeltapology  you will see my comments on this Guy's courageous efforts to help Road Race Cycling clean house . CNF has cancelled the thread as if it never existed ! Seems the mushroom farm does not wish the truth to be known ! Slandering ALL cyclists is the name of the game but seeking TRUTH is not a suitable subject !

Reading of the day's action at the dauphine made me realise how colourless a day it was although HTC has once again claimed the victory of the day . Heard the 1800 news where they announced Brad Mc Gee had retained the Yellow & Blue Leaders's jersey and i was even more amused yesterday when Daniel the announcer extraordinaire announced twice Mc Gee rather than Wiggo ! 

 

Got to laugh since Brad Mc Gee won the ITT in 2002 with Cookie second and me getting the bulk of the article which followed the headlines on the back page of the Dauphine newspaper the next morning . Mc Gee is here as DS for Saxo Bank and no doubt has been told of these fluffs !


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So Wiggins has a new shirt

Sky is the limit they say ! Brad Wiggins wrested control of the Dauphine Libere when Cadel turned in a result that could have been better . That Wiggo was able to assert his authority in this ITT must give TDF contenders pause for thought . Not only he but some of his team mates turned in good results and are now looking like they could fashion a stronger result in a TTT .

Followed Wiggo off the course and saw his contretemps with his DS so it was clear that to that point he had not realised he was on the way back to the podium after a Quick cleanup .

During the next 4 days we can expect that Sky will have to work harder than the team would enjoy as we enter the mountains . These days will bring interesting  tactics into play as the other teams will exert pressure to make Sky work to retain the Maillot .

 

 


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Tuesday, June 7, 2011

FRANCE, Grenoble for ITT

Hope someone at Facebook Admin is reading this post.

When i travel i do not carry the laptop with me so rely on logging on in Internet Cafe situations BUT this does not suit "facebook" as they do not recognise the "IP address" and thus ban me ! Of course i can give them a mobli phone no they will attempt to ring after i have left the country . EVEN in Austria i do not get the promised call back .

Always was suspicious of facebook so this is one less site i can worry about . This is coming into facebook  on posterous if you are wondering .

French keyboards have me going at half my normal pace and that was a french snail that just galloped past , the hostel has an apple so guess why i cqn`t get into twitter ? Took 5 mins and a number of deletions to find the "@" , first attempt looked like this ;  3@3 !

Walked into the tourist office today and heard the Ladty in front of me getting "we only speak french in this office"! Perhaps she was seeking directions to another country to spend her money ?

Dauphine race passed me in St Laurent du Pont today , most of the racers earned their money today as i got drenched walking the 1/2 kilo from the car . No point giving the bike an outing since those on wheels looked like they would prefer to be somewhere else . Looks like Cav has a new kid on his block since HTC won the podium in front of Demoulin and the fast fading Thomas Voekler . Surprised there were so few spills with what i saw of the street furniture .

Since leaving Austria i have seen rain each day and it was especially disappointing to arrive on "hill108" to find the lower levels slick and the top wet and misty . Finished up having lunch with my mate Bruno in Cloz before a visit to Cles and Passo Tonale each with similar conditions.

Tonight am enjoying the Auberge in Grenoble because i lack the enthusiasm to get out in the evening rain . Hopeful that a change of weather will allow Grenoble to follow other Dauphine ITT's with dry roads ;

A bientot .

 

 

 

 

 


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Thursday, June 2, 2011

PAT MC QUAID at the OFFICE

NOW WHERE THE HELL IS JV ?



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