There in spirit

I followed the stage of the Tour de France on television while my brother and sister-in--law watched it from the roadside. Although you get all the atmosphere and excitement when you watch it live you also have to stand still for ages, you see them go by in a few seconds and then its all over! So, my brother had to resort to text messages to find out the situation. Here is what we said to each other.

Last night
Lovely: Hope u r out there writing Bradley Wiggin's name on the road 4 when he comes by 2morrow as he is third overall.

Lovely's brother: Will write it just below Lovely, will be in Chinaillon village to see it.

This afternoon:
Lovely's brother: We are at the top of the Col (de la Columbiere).

Lovely: They are 40k away. Brad Wig still there but they will try and shake him off. P.S. Am watching live!

Lovely: Brad holding on

Lovely's brother: Who's ahead? We are on the right on a small slope 30ft from the peak.

Lovely: Changing all the time. They have dropped Wiggins.

Lovely: Contador. Sclecksx2 (they are brothers) and Kloden. Wigs trying 2 get back with Armstrong.

Lovely's brother: How far? Jude (sister in law) needs the loo!

Lovely: 30 mins

Lovely: Heading down 2wards the final climb. Wave!

Lovely: If Brad Wig is not too far behind at top he could make up time in time trial 2morrow.

Lovely's brother: Lot of support 4 him here

Lovely: Sarkosy was at the finish

Lovely's brother: He's a knob, who won and where was Wig?

Lovely: Schlek. Wig 3 minutes down. May pick up more time 2morrow. Armstrong did well.

Wish I was there

I have been watching the Tour de France every evening and have been delighted to see that Bradley Wiggins is doing so well; being in third place overall and with a pretty good chance of placing in the top three by Paris. I have also become a 'fan' of Lance Armstrong on facebook. Well, I have been a 'fan' for years as it was the story of his heroic recovery from testicular cancer that gave me hope that I would get some kind of life back when I was ill myself. OK, my illness has no 'cure' as such but is controlled. Tomorrow is the longest and hardest stage of the Tour this year goes from Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Le Grand-Bornand and, as you can see from the profile picture below, is a rather mountainous route!

However one thing that I am deeply disappointed about is that I could have been there at the end! The peleton pass by the front door of my brother's chalet on their way down from the Col de la Columbiere, the final climb. I cycled up it two years ago, a year after my illness. It was the first time I had really tested my body and although it hurt like hell and I had to stop a lot I am pleased to say that I got there in the end and have the picture to prove it! We went up the easy route however! The tour is going up the other side which is steeper and more twisty! Good luck Bradley!

Summer is here

I know that summer is really here when the Tour de France starts. We have just watched Mark Cavendish win the second stage in a great sprint finish. For the next few weeks my evenings will be governed by the highlights on ITV 4 or Eurosport.

National pastime

I have made references before to the fact that most of my contacts with French people have involved a discussion about the Tour de France and that virtually all of the builders and other 'artisans' that we have hired have had some connection with cycling. On our most recent trip we met with our builder's father-in-law, Jean Martinez. Jean has been drafted in from his retirement to assist with some project management tasks (something our builder is not so good at). He is a sprightly looking man of 70+; much fitter than his son-in-law. He commented immediately on my 2004 Tour de France cap and pointed out that his Skoda sun hat was also a Tour souvenir (Skoda being one of the official sponsors). He was a keen cyclist and a member of a club and the following day was off on a 100km ride somewhere so needed to take it easy that day. He lamented the fact that his son-in-law no longer cycled and when I told him that in my younger days I had cycled from Bordeaux to Barcelona in two weeks he said that members of his club would do the trip in three days!

On our visits to France it is common to see one or two fairly portly men, clad in ill fitting Lycra, out for a 'spin' on the country roads. This is also a common sight in England but you can tell the French cyclists as many seem to have bikes that don't quite fit them and look a little awkward.

This year stage 17 of the Tour is a long mountain stage finishing in Le Grand Bornand, where my brother has his chalet. Stage 18 is a time trial in nearby Annecy. It is a Tour de France follower's dream and we have been invited to go (although we are not sure whether we will be able to fit it in with all the house building projects!

Christmas Eve

Today is Christmas Eve and here in the Alps there is brilliant sunshine and blue skies again. As predicted I was as stiff as a board today and even getting out of bed hurt, so I didn't do too much. Ian and the others went off to do some high tech skiing and I settled for a couple of runs on my own just to get moving. The best bit was that I managed two conversations on the chairlift in French. The first was with a man from Paris who has a small studio here and visits regularly; the second was with a ski instructor who told me that he was in London two years ago when Le Grand Depart came to London. He was Paul Sherwin's (ITV4 commentator) driver from the London to Canterbury stage so as we were marshaling on Westminster Bridge he would have driven by! I sometimes think that everyone that I talk to in France has something to do with the Tour. The other topic of conversation that all the French people seem to enjoy talking about with the English is the value off the pound against the euro. As my instructor yesterday said 'welcome to the real world!' I think that there is a feeling that we have had it quite easy for many years!

We all met for a late lunch and I returned back to chalet after while the others went off more skiing.

This is the view from the balcony this evening....

Tour de France

So..the tour de France has finished for another year. Carlos Sastre won. It was the usual mix of good days, boring days, break-aways, sprint finishes, drama, seediness, excitement, good luck, bad luck, serious accidents, the predicable and the unpredictable. I will watch it again next year!

A good victory

A 24 year old Italian called Riccardo Ricco won today's stage of the Tour de France. He put in what appeared to be a superhuman effort to speed past some of the best riders in the world going up a mountain. As Ian said "he went up that mountain faster that you would go down it". (This is a reference to my dislike of going fast downhill!). Ricco also won a stage on Thursday and when interviewed about the win he said that he had a brother who was killed in a motorbike accident and now he dedicates every success to him and his other brother, who is a footballer dedicates every goal. He said that he likes to think that he is there with him and enjoying his success. For me it sums up the motivation and determination that you need to succeed in the Tour. The other thing you need is a good team and Mark Cavendish certainly had that when they led him to within 100 metres of the finish line yesterday and he repaid them by out-sprinting everyone else to the line. He is only 23 and it is good to see such talent in the next generation. I only hope we don't learn later that it is drug fuelled.

17.07.08
I have to add a post-script here. Ricco has just been sent home after testing positive for EPO. I had my suspicions but am very disappointed. It does make me feel less inclined to watch it.

British cycling

I watched Cavendish win yesterday's stage of the Tour de France. He is currently the best sprinter in the world and the first British stage winner for 5 years. It was great to watch and he really deserved it after last year when he was well placed to win the second stage in Canterbury until a female spectator walked in front of him and knocked him off his bike. I don't know whether he would have won or not but the dream of a British stage win on home ground was ended there and then by a stupid and selfish act.

Cycling was also in the news yesterday after a cyclist on a mountain bike was fined £2000 for knocking over and killing a young girl who either stepped in front of him or refused to get out of his way. The story is quite complicated and it is hard to work out exactly what happened. It does sound like the man didn't make any attempt to stop when the teenagers were in the road and that can never be condoned; and I can also fully understand why the girls parents feel that the punishment was grossly inadequate. However, this story led the papers and press to publish a whole collection of anti-cyclist articles. There was quite a nice balance in the Times presenting what I thought was many sides of the argument. As a driver, cyclist and one time regular commuter on the bike I feel I have the right to add my bit!

1. Not all cyclists break the rules in the same way that not all motorists are mad psychopaths whose one aim is to knock off every bike rider they see.

2. In order to survive as a cycling commuter you have to believe the latter so that you can protect yourself against the one that is!

3. Sometimes it is safer for everyone if as a cyclist you bend a few rules. For example, it is safer to position yourself just ahead of cars at a junction so that they can see you and it is safer to be a little out from the side of the road for the same reason. It does make some car drivers annoyed but at least they see you.

4. Most cyclists are insured; either through their household insurance, car insurance or through membership of a cycling organisation.

5. It is quite possible to accidentally kill someone when you are riding a bike. Downhill the bike will go as fast as a car (something that often seems to infuriate some car drivers who feel like they should overtake no matter what).

6. The consequence of any scrape between me on a bike and a car will always be worse for me (so it is in my best interest not to get into one).

7. Cyclists do pay tax that adequately covers their use of the roads, either through income tax or through motor vehicle tax (most cyclists own cars as well).

8. Sometimes pedestrians just don't look out for bikes. When they see me (and I do not cycle on pavements unless it is legal for me to do so) they jump and say 'get a bell'. Well, I have tried a bell and it is not heard above the traffic! If it is, it also causes people to jump out of their skins and in their shock and then they usually walk in front of me! I have tried coughing loudly, squealing my breaks, saying politely 'excuse me please' or 'just behind you' and all of it produces a startled response.

9. Pedestrians sometimes think that if I cycle more slowly it will be safer. This is not necessarily true as at very slow speeds it is more difficult to control the direction of the bike.

10. It is very difficult to hand signal as you are going down hill and braking!