posted 4 Aug 2011 13:07 by Rowan Mc Murray
At long last, some photos for your enjoyment. I have scaled them down a bit for speed in loading, but hopefully you can still get the idea. I can't say I am particularly happy with them though, I have to admit. By pure good fortune it turns out I need a new camera anyway, so the plan is to make sure I have one that is more suitable for the purpose before I do the Giro and the Vuelta. Huh? What? Don't know what you are talking about. Anyway, photos! This is the bike, right after arriving in France (the car I drove through the night to get there is in the background). As you can see, I was actually travelling pretty light this year, relatively speaking. The most common request I got in 2009 was, funnily enough, for pictures of me. I was riding through some of the most spectacular mountains in the world, following the most watched annual sporting event in the world, and people were asking for pictures of me. Gee, thanks! Unfortunately though I can only assume that it was because most of the people reading had never actually met me, so they didn't realise just what an ugly mug I have. Anyway, this time, you all get to see it! This is how I looked at the start... Lots of people actually come to the roadside just for the caravan, and then stay to watch the bike racing. I managed to avoid it much better this year, mainly by getting to finishing towns so I could go and do my grocery shopping or watch the big screen rather than stopping on the road side. That meant it annoyed me a lot less, but I still had sympathy for the people who were throwing the junk they threw out back to them... My first glimpse of the actual racing. Thor Hushoved had a fantastic tour, and made sure his world champion kit was frequently on the attack. Here he is just at the very ealry stages of making the break that would stay away for the day and get him the win. I love it. Climbing Col 'Aubisque it was at least not too hot!  By the time I got there it was actually pretty cool. My lilly white legs where commented on a lot through the tour actually, mainly because most of the time they were either covered or the weather was like this! I met Brian about 10km before the base of the climb, it was great to have some company for my first HC climb of the trip!  Hmm, the connection is VERY slow... More to come tomorrow... Cheers, Rowan |
posted 31 Jul 2011 13:25 by Rowan Mc Murray
So I actually took a fair number of photos this trip. One or two of them were even good. Unfortunately I wasn't able to include them while I was on the road, but I am now reasonably settled (he says as he sits in his hotel room in a strange city...) and am hoping to get the photos up tomorrow!
Cheers,
Rowan
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posted 25 Jul 2011 16:50 by Rowan Mc Murray
Well, we finally got an Australian on the top step in Paris, and I wasn't there to see it. Terrible. Although, to be honest, it wasn't really. The original plan was to get to Paris to see the overall finish, at the cost of skipping the time trial. Now since the time trial was where he actually made the gains he required, I am pretty glad that I did see it. The atmosphere there when the top guys were on the course was amazing. The place was also swarming with Aussies, and I had an American standing next to me who was generous enough to bet me a beer that Andy would retain the yellow jersey. And I say generous because it was when Cadel had already made up around 53 seconds. And he really did seem surprised when he lost. I enjoy people like that. But anyway, it meant that as Cadel claimed yellow I had a beer in my hand and hundreds of Aussies around to celebrate with. Pretty good, I have to say.
But regardless, it is all over now. In the end I did 1036km over 9 days, climbed some great mountains, met some great people, and had a great time.
I managed to gain about 2kg while doing it, though I am still a little below where I want to be. My left knee is tender, while my right knee is sore and visibly swollen. My bad hip, which came on the week before I started, is still sore, though it never gave me a problem on the bike.
I have an awful lot of photos, some of which are OK, and I will be putting them up soon, so check back. Also, to all those peole who did send messages, thank you, I did appreciate them all, and will finish replying soon.
Cheers, Rowan |
posted 23 Jul 2011 05:01 by Rowan Mc Murray
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updated 23 Jul 2011 13:29
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Well, my Tour is all but over. After two brilliant stages in the last two days I am now standing 175m from the time-trial finish line, with about 4 hours to wait to see Cadel finish, and another 7 minutes after that (or even 6:58 would be good enough, to be honest) to see Andy Schleck finish, and Frank about the same time.
This is the day it all comes down to now, and it is likely to be very, very close. The Schlecks are regarded as fairly poor time-trialers, while Cadel is regarded as very good, but last year Andy pulled out a very impressive final TT and no-one really knows how much he has improved, so things are tense.
Of course, today is not the final day, that is tomorrow, but it is widely accepted that apart from the sprinters the riders will treat tomorrow as basically ceremonial. I have to say, I do not agree with this approach. If it had come down to a matter of seconds on the last day for me, I would definitely race. Of course, in the spirit of sportsmanship I would make sure my competitors knew that ahead of time, and I accept that it would be very tough to get a gap, but hey, it is a race after all...
But hopefully it will not come to that, hopefully Cadel will dominate today so convincingly that there is no point racing tomorrow. Especially since I will not be there. My original plan was to skip the TT to be in Paris tomorrow, but plans got changed when I realised I have to be in London tomorrow and there is no way available to get out of Paris tomorrow. So I have hired a car, and will head back to Kaiserslautern to pick up a suit and tie and then head straight to London. Not the original plan, but it means I get to see the TT today. Go Cadel!!!
Cheers, Rowan |
posted 22 Jul 2011 17:39 by Rowan Mc Murray
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updated 22 Jul 2011 23:37
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So I knew I was tired last night, but it must have been worse than I thought, because somehow what I posted seems to have disappeared, and my best guess is that I accidentally deleted it. But anyway, the summary was that I didn't do much riding other than Col d'Izoard, that Schleck's attack was brilliant but disaster for Cadel because he had to do all of the chasing alone and cook himself, and that I had camped at the roadside because otherwise I would have been stuck in a traffic jam in the rain.
When I woke up, it was a beautiful day. Clear blue skies and the sun shining on the Alps. I leapt on the bike and started riding, but the bad news was that Col d'Galibier was already closed, in fact had been closed since last night. I saw George today and he said he had gone up yesterday and camped, and then was wondering why there were no other bikes. So a good thing I didn't try it. Oh, and because my legs were done...
But anyway, I headed down to Alp d'huez instead. I met Dave at the bottom, and saw that he was without panniers. We agreed that if I beat him up he would give me his bike. Unfortunately, I didn't. Not for any good reason though - my 1:38 looks pretty poor compared to Pierre Rolland's time (and how good is he by the way? After covering Cadel so well yesterday, to come through and win today was amazing!) but I really believe most of it was traffic delay. The place was a madhouse! But I got there, found Dave and also Brandon, who I meet at Montpellier. We all stood there and watched the race on the big screen, before turning arond to see the finish live. Another great finish, another great effort from Cadel, another sleepless night worrying about what the TT will bring!
Then it was a simple matter of rolling past a million cars, buses, trucks, campervans and mobile bakeries into Grenoble for the night. I have to admit my first impressions were not that positive - I was really in need of a shower, so thought I would check for a hotel. To start with I not only couldn't find a hotel that was open (a few that were closed down though...) I could barely find any people. Finally though I decided to just concentrate on food, and while finding a restaurant I also meet a very nice bloke called Jean. He offered his spare room for the night, an offer I was very glad to take up, so that is where I am just about to sleep!
Cheers, Rowan |
posted 21 Jul 2011 14:38 by Rowan Mc Murray
Just realised the following had been saved as a draft. Unfortunately it is not the one I first thought it was, which described the Col d'Agnol. That was a brilliant climb. But anyway, I wrote this, so here it is. It is, fairly obviously if you were wathcing the race, from the Pinerol-Galibier stage, which was a great day for the racing: There is somehow something luxurious about lying in bed while you cook and eat dinner, even when that bed is in a tent pitched beside a main road. Maybe it is just the concept of having someone cook for me as I lie in bed, extended to encompass the possibility of it being me cooking. But anyway, there is something I like about it, which is just as well because it is by far the best option when it is pouring with rain, which it was as I cooked.
I knew last night that I wouldn't go far today, but hadn't realised it would be so little. Essentially I got up a bit late, then rode the Cold'Izoard. It was great, but freezing at the top, so I got some hot food as well, so more time down. Then as I packed up to go the advance road patrol came through. Since Gendarmes often take this as a sign to close the road I decided I had better hurry.
I got to Briancon, but then was thinking of all the non-bike things I needed to do, and so decided to stop there rather than being stopped on an empty road later. The problem was, then Andy launched his attack. And it was such a good one, having a good descender drop back to lead him down and Stuey to get the first gap. So I stayed in the bar where they were showing the race until I saw the finish.
That was a dark day for Aussie cyclists, but great to watch. It also showed pretty clearly that Cadel was riding to win, everyone else is riding to beat Cadel. I am just a little worried about how he will perform tomorrow, with having worked so hard today. But on that topic, time for me to turn in, or I will not make it Alp d'Huez myself.
Cheers, Rowan |
posted 21 Jul 2011 07:28 by Rowan Mc Murray
This is a great stage! Hope everyone is watching or recording. Col d'Agnol is just amazing, totally spectacular, plus hard. To see the...
Spoiler ahead, be warned...
Brilliant attack by Andy Schleck after that is so impressive. And the way he came down Izzoard was utterly fearless. I think he nearly lost it a few times, but had a great wheel to follow at least. I am still hoping Cadel will jump across of course, but that was a great attack from Andy!
More to come later tonight, but I am suffering a little, it will be a very small day regardless.
Cheers, Rowan |
posted 20 Jul 2011 19:28 by Rowan Mc Murray
This will be quick, because I NEED sleep. Day dawned grey and miserable, so I rolled over and snoozed. It then proceeded to get better and better though, until I finally had to conceed weather was not an excuse for an easy day, and get on my bike. The Cat 1to Sestrieres felt nasty and I was glad when it was over, also because I finally felt confident I could sttay ahead of road closures. But I made it to Pinerolo where it was a beautiful day. Then headed straight out after shopping to start the return over Col Agnel. Now that is a really nasty climb. But I got there, put the picture on facebook (not here, sorry... technology...) then froze for the next 20km to the valley to camp. Would have been fine, but I had a cooking system malfunction. Spent hours on it, got nowhere, just finished cold dinner. Plan was to meet Dave at 10 tomorrow on Galibier, but i don't see it happening now, will be sleeping instead.
Cheers, Rowan |
posted 19 Jul 2011 15:17 by Rowan Mc Murray
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updated 19 Jul 2011 22:49
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It is funny how good company can turn what could have been terrible into a great day. I was up briefly this morning at dawn, and saw a spectacular sunrise, but a little part of my brain was telling me that those clouds meant trouble.
Having camped with Dave last night we were just finishing off our packing when the first few drops of rain fell and the thunder started sounding really loud. The remainder of today's course was to take us 59km into Gap, and then out to a Cat. 2 climb, then back in to Gap to finish. We quickly leapt on our bikes and started pedalling, but it was already sure that we would get wet. We did get wet. The rain set in, and it was solid and driving. We got very wet. Also pretty cold on the first descent into Gap, and visibility was terrible. When Dave said "oh no, this is the way to the climb, we need to get back into town" I did not argue for a second. We found the finish line in town and the big screen where Dave was hoping to meet his friends George and David later, but our priorities were dryness, warmth and food, so we quickly went into a nearby restaurant.
They looked a little horrified when we arrived, soaked to the bone, but let us in to sit at their lovely tables and eat a pretty good (if tiny) lunch. We also dragged a lot of our stuff in rather than leaving it on the bikes to get wet, but honestly most of it wasn't getting wetter and all we achieved was to create a little lake around us. But they took it well. I also consumed a huge number of cups of tea, which I never used to drink, but with it being hot and sweet here it was going down a treat.
After sitting there for a few hours we had dried out ourselves at least, and we headed outside where we were lucky enough to meet George and David. These are guys Dave had met in his first week, and the have both ridden around the tour for years, and were both great guys. We headed out of town before the finish, simply because the weather was good and getting out later would be very hard. We stopped about 15km down the road to see the finish on TV in a bar, and sure enough they were riding in the pouring rain. Good decision and also a great win by Hushoved, but even better to see Evans get a time gap on Contador, and a pretty solid one on Frank and Andy Schleck. Go Cadel!
We pushed on until David had to stop. He had been sitting beside the road a week ago and found a kitten, nearly starved to death and all alone. So now, it travels with him. But it needed excercise, so he had to stop. The three of us pushed on until George just disappeared. Dave and I soft pedalled a few k to let him catch up, then stopped, and were about to head back when a pair of Scottish guys came by. They assured us he wasn't on the road, so we figure he pulled off somewhere, but hopefully we will catch up with him again later.
Meanwhile we pushed on a little, and were thinking about where to stop. Dave wants to see the race at the feed station tomorrow, which isn't far from here. I plan to check the weather, and if it is poor then I will have a relatively easy day with him, but if it good I will aim to push on to then through Pinerolo in Italy, then start climbing home. That will be a huge and diffucult day, so I wanted to go a good way tonight.
We had just reached an acceptable compromise distance and agreed to stop when it started to rain, so the tents went up in record time and we climbed in and had a shouted conversation for the next hour as we lay in our respective tents and unpacked our respective gear, figuring out what was dry (none of it) and what was wet (all of it)! I will definately need some warm dry stuff for what I plan tomorrow though, so unless the weather is good enough to let it dry out I will pull the plug. We will see.
When it finally slowed down on the raining we both crowded into Dave's tent to cook, eat and talk. Again, great, and to skip my planned ride would be a shame, but not without consolations.
Anyway, time for sleep and to hope for good weather in the morning!
Cheers, Rowan |
posted 18 Jul 2011 15:21 by Rowan Mc Murray
As I lie here in my tent, with the fly open and the moonlight shining in, absolute silence all around (apart from the sound of a few passing cars, we didn't get all that far from the road), having just cooked and eaten a great (if I do say so myself) dinner with a good friend who I haven't seen for a long time, it occurs to me how much I actually like camping. And thinking back, I don't think I have done it since 2009. This has been for no good reason, and has certainly contributed to some fairly tragic outcomes. But anyway, here I am now, and loving it.
It has been a pretty good day all up. I woke to find that Dave had returned to the land of communication, and from Montpelier had looked at the map and decided, just like me, that Nimes was the place to stay. So we met up. Now it has been a while since I have seen Dave, and my first thought was "bloody hell, look at the size of his quads!" Next thought was "this is going to be a painful day..." but the third thought was "not nescesarilly"
We spent quite a while shopping for things like a new tyre (Dave's had given up a few days ago leaving him stranded at the top of a mountain, until he found someone with enough tape to patch it together at least for the descent) and lots of food (we are both reasonably solid eaters) but then hit the road. We swapped off turns on the front for the first 10km or so, before I explained to Dave about how bad my hayfever was and how important it was to keep my nose out of the wind. From then on, my view of the road always had Dave in it, and he pulled me along at a great pace. Dave is a world class 24 hour MTB racer, and it shows. The gentle tail wind that sometimes came up didn't hurt either, and the warm but not hot day with amazing views as we came into the foothills of the Alps just made it brilliant.
We met some great people like the wonderful lady in the coffee shop who looked at us in amazement as we came in begging for water, but nevertheless filled up everything we had before we stepped outside and noticed the fountain, saw an awesome bike (an 18 karat gold plated Colnago - not the most common bit of kit) and finally had a great dinner.
Today was a rest day for the racers, but we did the transition and enough of tomorrow's stage that we should make it to the finish fairly easily ahead of the road closures. From there Dave and I have fairly different aspirations, we will see if either of us persuades the other but we might end up heading in different directions for a while, hopefully to meet up again on Thursday. We will figure that out though.
Cheers, Rowan |
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