Vince Carter at the Tour de France

Every year i meet people who arrive at the Tour de France for the first time and i enjoy watching their reactions to the " Circus " that the TDF has become during the 14 occasions i have ridden the routes .

One night several of us camped in a field and i got asked once again why i don't write a book , fact is the blogs are not well enough attended to justify the expense in time and monies to rave on about the places i have been and the people i have met .

Some of the experiences i have enjoyed have been right off the scale in that i find myself the guest of so many generous people both in their homes and as a guest at the side of the road . It is impossible to relate the generosity of so many people even if i could find the correct words since in many cases these people have put aside their own commitments to help me ! The spread of nationalities and countries is mind boggling as not only Europeans but Asians have treated me so kindly !

Currently i don't seem to be able to post direct to the Blogs and so am using " Posterous " as the Portal so the stories/blogs are repeated in several blogs and for that i apologise .  Hopefully i will discover the problem and solve it quickly !

TODAY i am copying an email into the blog written by Vincent who has ridden the "Routes of the TDF " these past 3 years .

""   Skippy appeared riding from behind me on my first trip to the Tour de France in Monaco 2009 on the TT course . I had camped for 5 days in my first foreign country and the sound of a friendly Australian accent was welcome and after the usual exchange of details , he proceeded on along the course and shortly after i met another Tour devotee George the cyclist , who informed me of Skippy’s long running involvement with all the grand tours .

The power of the event and the challenge to view it while riding the course as much as you can handle got into my head with some power so i returned to the 2010 edition which started in Rotterdam to meet up with George . It was world cup soccer time and Skippy , George , and a new find of George’s , David the German and i took part in the excitement of a game watching the screen at the IYH where I was staying . The dutch won ,the locals where more than pleased it was a happy time to be amongst the revellers.
Over the coming days as gGorge and i rode the course Skippy would appear always loaded up with Skippy’s Legacy which was a special cycling jersey autographed by all the riders of note in the Pro Peloton. Skippy had plans to auction the shirt with proceeds going to his primary interest “ disabled sports people “. Regularly our paths would cross as the tour stages went by.

2011 came around and again i could not resist the Tour of France atmosphere , after riding to the rider presentation and discovering that it was invitation only i settled back in the car park to watch the Team buses roll up with all the tour Champs and Personalities passing by and i felt my 500 km ride was well worth it.
Then a gentle whack from a passing cyclist revealled Skippy once again , after greetings were done Skippy arranged for me to shake the hands of some tour stars Erik Zabel , Cadel Evans , Danilo Hondo ,Chris Horner , Mark Renshaw and others . Even though i am of a mature age , 54 , just to meet these guys was a great thrill and i doubt I’ll forget it ever, this was all down to Skippy , as he is one of the personalities which add to the whole tour experience .

 

What i should like to do is INVITE others to contribute their stories relating how we have met up  , over the years .

 

People like my friends in Crest , Brussels , Redom , Montigenevre , Torino and so many more places occasionally visit the blog so i would encourage them to contribute their piece to the Blog .

Now that Vincent has set the ball rolling , who will be next ?

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

BACK ON THE BIKE

Today 24th Feb was the first time in 2010 I took the road bike out, the weather was fine and the roads for the most part were clear. I am off medication for the Embolisms the past several weeks so the system needed exposure to the real world once again. From photos some of you have seen, you will know I generally use the “San Marco Carbon Saddle”. Today I used the “Rever Saddle ” which is a high tech San Marco saddle that is on my “Carbon” bike as my “derriere” has had no exposure during the past six months to the harsh realities of cycle life.




This bike like all that I own, is built up with a variety of parts acquired over several years from a number of sources. The Shimano 9 Dura-ace STI levers operate a 10 speed Ultegra drive chain and cassette which has not been used since August 2009 when the weather was considerably warmer. Today the temperature was about 4c so I was wearing longs and jackets. Surprisingly everything was working smoothly although I was careful about the reach when changing chainrings. With the intention of taking it easy I was on the road only 15 mins when Harold Toschnig was coming towards me , so a quick turnabout and rode tempo with him until we found a team mate of his coming towards us, so reversal of direction once again for about 10 kms where when we got to the bottom of a steepish climb they went up and I took the easy option and went off in an easier direction to the shops and a visit to the firm that provided the panels to frame “Skippy’s Legacy”.

After an hour and half of “ trouble free riding” I was heading south from Fugen towards Uderns on the RHS of the road, coming towards me in the middle of the narrow road was a White Sprinter Van. The driver was holding the mobile phone to the left ear and attempting to hold papers in the right hand as well as the steering wheel. Suddenly he jerked the steering wheel to the left across my path without thought or signal as he decided he was turning left into a side road, I went left also to avoid hitting him and thus into the path of his following colleague who also was driving a Sprinter but was travelling slower and signalling, he came to a halt. The following traffic came to a stop also, I made the hand gesture indicating hand telephone in use and pointed out his colleague , he just shrugged. Both vans were advertising platforms for their employers company. Here I am linking KWS to their website so that they get the public raspberry they deserve, click here if you chose! Yet to find the website address !

Throughout the past months I have been trawling for “Cycle Safety Websites” and list a few for you to if you choose checkout:

www.sharetheroad.com
www.roadscc.com
www.ipayroadtax.com
www.fightbaddriving.co.uk
www.rideofsilence.org

There are other sites that I am not recalling at present but I will add here at a later date. I am adding my comments to quite a few cycling sites because “Google and others” pick up and this of course translates to visits by others who I hope recommend me on to their “following”.


Fatty is a site I enjoy reading for the comments and yesterday announced a fundraising for a Cancer Victim who is a nephew, point is you need to go to the site pretty soon as it closes in days and the three bikes offered are worthwhile “Prizes” for a $US5.00 investment.
Many will be contributing with no intention of taking the bike but others will enjoy riding a “Team Radio Shack Trek Race Cycle” if their number comes up.

GO TO www.fatcyclist.com and enjoy the read, I first came on this site last year after a comment on twitter, @fat cyclist is the link there!





Some of the comments to this blog’s entries are quite entertaining and if you click on the name you link through to their site and find some really interesting subjects and as time permits I enjoy their variety and content. Another site that I go to regularly is www.georgethecyclist.com , George is at present cycling in Central Africa and the stories from there are really educational and give a picture of life I would not care to visit.