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 Mobile 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 Lady 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 Jeunesse 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 .

 

 

 

 

 

WWW.HILL108PROJECT.BLOGSPOT.COM

Foundations have been prepared for this recognition and celebration of Wouter’s life . Created the opportunity for others to translate my English introduction into other languages but still watching people sit on the fence .

 

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From Cyclingnews Forum there have been around the thousand visitors and Besnotty and his mates have chosen to ridicule my efforts . Fact is if those from the “mushroom farm “ have nothing better to do than be little others initiatives then they lead a sad life , but then we knew that already . Imagine if your only claim to fame was sending 11000+ comments to the funny farm ?

The blog itself has had a wide spread of visitors with obviously the Belgiums being the most interested in what is proposed . Passo Mendolo in Italy appears to be as popular in it’s own way as<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4i29rTHqX6KZ3P15FRT6Sx7oJp2EuMnmAHWH-PwRUopqJV0fHk0YIRTCIBPcfyWlUmvC918YbqnaVSsK21AdJ0sgXWjhUcvzRzFw5ucho8Gd-7T62v5W4MdlCxRQCiSIR0mdukzk8G8UE/s1600/255108_2026290826336_1515997741_2212698_143406_s.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 130px; height: 87px;" src="

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 Alp d’Huez in France . When you visit my Twitter you will see me at the Tom Simpson memorial at the beginning of this February . First time I had ridden the climb up the Mont Ventoux with snow on the ground , and recently I heard there could have been a certificate had I known how to go about registering .<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA6VMNqbbVKdchzAYXU-E1OfuswoGYo0hxCX-JuCCFn5fZd9LXFxHQgTOY3Xxs2yYlkQePD-Do1DYRVu9-JtkoKUKQwrkkJLTHUm8og3s_SNqs6CSRTI1srt2rTtZBm95RiJqZl3DZUueQ/s1600/53941283.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 216px;" src="

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Last Thursday I was approached by email by some Flemish creating a Wouter story , I responded to their request and then got a note back in I think Flemish :

posted on your Wall. "Beste Skippy, ik dacht dat vrienden mensen waren die ontzettend veel geduld konden opbrengen om te luisteren naar elkaar. Dat vrienden bijna altijd aan hetzelfde zeel trekken. Ook als ze het misschien niet onmiddellijk eens zijn met elkaar. Vrienden werken in mijn ogen altijd samen. Er is onder vrienden nooit zo iets als ik ben de beste, grootste, slimste of de... Vrienden gunnen elkaar het licht in elkaars aangezicht. Take care and good luck with your project.

Curiously the author has forgotten that I am unable to read Flemish and am obviously in need of a translation . Would someone PLEASE put the translation in the “comments “section .

 

Last week I met by chance Rohregger of the Leopard Team and explained the Hill108 project to him and said I was prepared to pass the project to the Leopard team if they chose to take it on , as yet no approach so the project goes forward with me carrying the workload .  <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWQexzdN88r00rPvqw9eoeko6mb4ncITjtpghyphenhyphend3QwJUGuZXhBXwO3zobw5x0_ZKR_UOHM2wtSp1HLFsoRzXDxZryfzQmhcWmJBa2H4H-PaVYdwyVypZ0aw5pCo2zCpR6dZqHivP4IPwI0/s1600/pink+bike.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="

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Happy to continue but with the Dauphine Libere in progress and next week the Tour de Suisse will have limited access to computer facilities .

Fatcyclist had his 100 miles of nowhere yesterday and I had 7 hrs in the saddle with the Pink bike and another 6 1/2hrs today with the Black bike that I think will be  used once again at the TDF this year .<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiHL-3VnW80wtnOY-72epXe0AgwI9S5UxPRMTjkH1EHQXCsnYphepHhAhNpd7q0ZP_ojF6HTjesSQLke-Xg0nscphBzmcpYPH4LW4UTblQOA9XQou6s_1rYlKza7MXQNifvK8cEG2GLUXq/s1600/P5100015.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="

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 I will miss reading the stories of peoples’ efforts to raise funds for Livestrong . Glad to see so many dedicated to such a worthy cause . CNF mushroom farm has not commented on their efforts but are spewing bile about UCI & the IOC currently . Wonder how many of them have fictitious IP addressses since they have picked  targets that can bite back ?

 

 

Tyler Farrar was a great friend of Wouter but not many people are aware of the fact that his father was hit ny a vehicle some years ago and as a result no longer practices as a Surgeon but does use a Handbike .

 

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Regretably the father is unable to fly so misses the opportunity to see Tyler race in Europe .

MISSING A WHEEL

　
TV camera in my face at Sestriere I related the misadventures of the morning ! Not often I am seen wheeling a one wheeled race bike so that would have attracted comment even if my main purpose of helping “Sporti Disabili” was overlooked ! Poor Italian vocabulary skills seem to have worked however . At the tourist office I found that my arrangements made before the start of the Giro had been ineffective ! Quelle surprise (they speak French in this part of Italy!) !

Went down to the Ski Sports store on the corner where there was no Race bike but I was welcome to use the computer , thanks folks ! After setting up the blog posts I headed up to the Amazing Hotel of Sestriere to meet with Gian Franco . He and his people have built a Hotel that is Especially for “Disabled Clients”! All that the Disabled need whilst travelling or on holiday can be found there and more ! But only mountain bikes ! After a coffee break I decided that the day was slipping away so headed over to the Camper parking area . Here after garbled Italian I found someone who lent me a wheel .

This was not what I was looking for though ! This was a Mavic Kyrisium with carbon spokes , not the sort of wheel you could afford to lose OR break . Vincenzo obviously is one of a kind that he could lend such an expensive piece of kit ! Took off before he could change his mind and put in a few climbs and descents in the area whilst filling the afternoon with rendezvous’ with people that I have met before both at the Giro and TDF . Belgium friends Luc & Annie were entertaining Carlos Sastre’s parents and as I left I gave him a hug and her a kiss as I reported to Carlos when we met Sunday afternoon at the ITT !

Returned the wheel in good condition a bit before 1800hrs and started the slog down the road looking for the lift back to Ricardo’s car . First asked was a station wagon (5 door car) who kindly dropped me alongside Ricardo who had come down from the Finestre minutes before . Luckily for us the traffic was light so we made good time back to Torino to be reunited with MY wheel .

Several hours after the wheel was misplaced at the side of the apartment house the local butcher found the neighbour that Ricardo had phoned to look around for the wheel . Ricardo was so amazed at our good fortune that he said he would report the story to the newspaper “La Stampa” ! Not only are the locals honest but the Drivers that I hitched with were helpful and I hope they are reading this since they deserve credit for going out of their way to assist . My wheel is unique in that it has “Aiuto (help Disabled ) Disabili” in Italian and several other languages , so this could have helped . No intention of repeating the situation though !


Evening at Ricardo’s allowed me to see the dismal efforts of Manchester United which was followed by a repeat of the day’s action on the Giro ! Spectacular viewing with action both from the motorcycle and chopper . Italian language was difficult for me but the tension and excitement carried through !

SBS employ a cretin by the name of “Tommo” to report to Australia the action at the Tour de France and he recently blogged decrying the efforts of RAI TV ! Fact is the guy has long passed his “sell by date” , what knowledge he has of cycling can be seen from another post of his about what he has seen of Sydney Cyclists whilst sitting in a car at traffic lights !
In 2004 I asked him to give the Paralympics a boost on his program and his reply was “There is no room on my TDF program for Disabled Sport”! Just as well Sara won Gold Cycling on Athens rOlympic Roads isn’t it Tommo ? Paralympians did rather well for Oz cycling in Athens , and tommo reckons they do not deserve a mention ?

Shame on you Tommo , seems you have mates you can rely on in the SBS management but all I hear from the Oz fans of TDF , your viewers is to the contrary, could be the reason you asked Gatesy to pump your ego in a Pau interview .


Sunday was ITT and after collecting on a couple of promises and garnering some Racer numbers I was at the end of another Giro . During the afternoon managed to surprise a few people by realising some of their ambitions to meet the greats of Cycling .

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE GIRO WILL BE REPORTED ON “TOURDAFRANCE.BLOGSPOT ” as time permits and access to computers at the Dauphine Libere allows !

HILL 108 Project

ESTABLISHED Hill 108 Project so that those who want to remember Wouter can do so in a "positive " way .

@hill108 and http://www.hill108project.blogspot.com can be brought to the attention of others ONLY if you choose to assist by passing on the information .

Not all will be able to holiday in Italy but i would like to think that those responsible will follow this iniative and establish similar projects in other countries .

You have questions or suggestions please visit those sites !