Thursday, July 5, 2012
One week away...
This time next week Nathan and I will be on a plane bound for Paris. It is pretty exciting!
Obviously, going to the Tour is going to be great, but it's also nice to be going when my favorite teams/riders are in decent shape. Last year, Radio Shack-Nissan-Trek was already basically out of the race due to crashes at this point. This year, all the RSNT riders are in decent shape with the exception of Chris Horner, but he was sort of marginal to start. Of course it would have been good to have a healthy and on-form Andy Schleck, but you can't have everything.
Personally, I'd love to see Andreas Kloden do well this year. I really think the team needs to take good care of him, especially after Cancellara (unfortunately but inevitably) loses the maillot jaune. I'm concerned that all the time trialing in this year's tour is going to take Frank Schleck out of the mix. He can do a lot well, but time trialing just isn't his specialty.
Non-RSNT, I am definitely backing Levi Leipheimer. His tour last year was such a disaster, it would be nice to see him stay out of trouble and do something special. I'm also a big fan of Vincenzo Nibali, just because he's such an entertaining and unpredictable rider.
Anyway, it's shaping up to be a great Tour this year, and I can't wait to get into the middle of it!
Final itinerary for the trip
If you've read this blog for a while (and I have no reason to believe anyone has), you've seen me puzzle over exactly where to go and what to do while in France, with the exception of being in the Pyrenees for Stages 16 and 17 and in Paris for Stage 20.
Well, after much back and forth between Nathan and me, including the creation and documentation of at least 5 different options, we have an itinerary that is fairly cast in stone. We've even made hotel reservations for those days that were previously up in the air, so we are pretty well set.
Here is the plan:
Well, after much back and forth between Nathan and me, including the creation and documentation of at least 5 different options, we have an itinerary that is fairly cast in stone. We've even made hotel reservations for those days that were previously up in the air, so we are pretty well set.
Here is the plan:
- Friday, 7/13: Arrive in Paris, rent a car and drive to Tours. We'll have the afternoon and evening in Tours, but we'll probably take it easy as we'll be recovering from the flight.
- Saturday, 7/14: Bastille Day in the Loire Valley. We'll do some sightseeing, most likely taking in some chateaux and the Tours Cathedral.
- Sunday, 7/15: Morning in the Loire Valley again, then travel to Toulouse. We will probably go through Poitiers and see some historic sites there on the way.
- Monday, 7/16: Get up early and travel to Pau to see the end of Stage 15. After that, head to Bagneres-de-Luchon and check into our apartment.
- Tuesday, 7/17: Explore the Pyrenees. Rest day for the Tour.
- Wednesday, 7/18: Up early to see Stage 16. We will either travel to the Col du Tourmalet (HC) or the Col de Peyresourde (Cat 1) depending on a) how early we get up and b) how lucky we feel. The Peyresourde is very close and the last col on this stage, so obviously it has some advantages. On the other hand, the Col du Tourmalet is the Col du Tourmalet. We'll probably ask around in town and see what people recommend.
- Thursday, 7/19: Up early to see Stage 17. We will pack up in the morning and head either to the finish at Peyragudes (Cat 1) or to the Port de Bales (HC). After the Tour goes by, we are going to saddle up and drive to Paris, assuming it's not super late to start. As a backup plan, we will go back to our apartment in Bagneres-de-Luchon (which we have for a full week).
- Friday 7/20: Free day in Paris.
- Saturday, 7/21: Free day in Paris, or if we just have to have more Tour, we will somehow get ourselves down to Chartres for the Stage 19 individual time trial.
- Sunday, 7/22: See Stage 20, the finish on the Champs-Elysees. Afterwards, hang out in Paris.
- Monday, 7/23: Free day in Paris.
- Tuesday, 7/24: Fly home.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Team Livestrong Challenge Davis Ride Report: Postscript
This post gives a little flavor of what I went through after I crossed the finish line at the Livestrong Challenge Davis. Note that it is not exciting and I don't recommend anyone taking the time to read it, but I wanted to get it down just so I could remember the entire crazy day...
After crossing the line in Davis, I rode straight to the Team Fatty tents (we had two because of our fundraising prowess!) Quite a few riders were chilling out, sitting or lying in the grass, including Fatty and The Hammer who both looked like they'd been there awhile (which I found out later they had with their ridiculously fast time).
I couldn't finish a Team Fatty ride without having some pie, so I took a bit of the chocolate cream. It was exceptionally tasty, and I wolfed it down in a hurry. Unfortunately, I had a lot of stuff that I had to take care of, so I pretty much left after about 10 minutes.
The biggest rush item on my agenda was to return my rental bike to San Francisco before the shop where I rented it closed. Now a normal person would have checked up front or even called, but for some reason, I just decided in my head that they closed at 5:00 (the fact that my phone had died on the ride didn't help matters, by the way). That gave me about 3 hours to drive all the way to SF. Normally, this wouldn't seem like a big deal, but since it took me about 2 hours the day before to get to the shop from Pleasanton, and given the crazy traffic I'd hit on the way to Davis, I didn't want to take any chances.
Therefore, I headed straight to my car. I did the ever popular change-out-of-your-cycling-shorts-in-the-front-seat-of-the-SUV trick, put on a fresh T shirt and socks (over my absolutely reeking self), shoved the bike in the back and took off. I had a wicked case of helmet hair and an odor that could be smelled by drivers going to opposite direction on the interstate, but I had to get this bike back by closing time or die trying.
As I was driving, and especially after I hit the bad traffic trying to get over the bay bridge, I kept trying to think what I would do if the shop was closed. This is because I was flying out later that day. I'd have to call one of my coworkers and see if I could have them return the bike for me.
Anyway, I got into SF and was following my iPhone's navigation when all of a sudden I ran into the Pride Parade! Now I've got nothing against pride or anything, but you can imagine how messed up traffic was in San Francisco during this event. Fortunately, I figured I take The Embarcadero, and sure enough, even though it was slow it was at least open. I slowly made my way up to North Shore, and found Blazing Saddles after what seemed like forever.
It was about 4:15 when I pulled up in front of the shop, but for some reason it looked closed. I started to panic, but figured I'd driven all this way so I was not going to give up. This is when I noticed that parking on a Saturday afternoon with no Pride Parade is a completely different situation than parking on a Sunday afternoon with a Pride Parade just wrapping up. I could not find a freaking parking space to save my life. I drove up and down some of SF's huge hills until I finally found a spot about 4 blocks away and on a 45 degree slope.
I pulled the bike out of the car and walked/ran down the hill to the shop. I eventually found the place, and thank God it was open. In fact, they were going to be open for another 2.5 hours, so I guess I could have hung around in Davis after all!
I finished up the paperwork, then set out to find my car. Fortunately, I had noted the street I was on, and once I'd hired a sherpa as a guide to help me up the hills, I made it back to my car.
After that, I just needed to find a place to wash myself off before I took my red eye flight to Cleveland. My wife had the brilliant idea of going to a 24 Hour Fitness where I have a membership. I found one south of San Francisco, and got myself cleaned up with little drama except that I had to use my commemorative Livestrong T shirt as a towel!
After that I got some food, and since I'd burned close to 5000 calories, I treated myself to a turkey dinner at Boston Market, complete with mashed potatoes.
Finally, with literally nothing left to do I returned the rental car and went to the airport where I surfed the internet, drank some beer and waited for my flight to leave... 4 hours later.
As I was driving, and especially after I hit the bad traffic trying to get over the bay bridge, I kept trying to think what I would do if the shop was closed. This is because I was flying out later that day. I'd have to call one of my coworkers and see if I could have them return the bike for me.
Anyway, I got into SF and was following my iPhone's navigation when all of a sudden I ran into the Pride Parade! Now I've got nothing against pride or anything, but you can imagine how messed up traffic was in San Francisco during this event. Fortunately, I figured I take The Embarcadero, and sure enough, even though it was slow it was at least open. I slowly made my way up to North Shore, and found Blazing Saddles after what seemed like forever.
It was about 4:15 when I pulled up in front of the shop, but for some reason it looked closed. I started to panic, but figured I'd driven all this way so I was not going to give up. This is when I noticed that parking on a Saturday afternoon with no Pride Parade is a completely different situation than parking on a Sunday afternoon with a Pride Parade just wrapping up. I could not find a freaking parking space to save my life. I drove up and down some of SF's huge hills until I finally found a spot about 4 blocks away and on a 45 degree slope.
I pulled the bike out of the car and walked/ran down the hill to the shop. I eventually found the place, and thank God it was open. In fact, they were going to be open for another 2.5 hours, so I guess I could have hung around in Davis after all!
I finished up the paperwork, then set out to find my car. Fortunately, I had noted the street I was on, and once I'd hired a sherpa as a guide to help me up the hills, I made it back to my car.
After that, I just needed to find a place to wash myself off before I took my red eye flight to Cleveland. My wife had the brilliant idea of going to a 24 Hour Fitness where I have a membership. I found one south of San Francisco, and got myself cleaned up with little drama except that I had to use my commemorative Livestrong T shirt as a towel!
After that I got some food, and since I'd burned close to 5000 calories, I treated myself to a turkey dinner at Boston Market, complete with mashed potatoes.
Finally, with literally nothing left to do I returned the rental car and went to the airport where I surfed the internet, drank some beer and waited for my flight to leave... 4 hours later.
Oh, no! I missed one!
Well, I was 4 for 4 on my stage winner predictions, but today my streak ended. I'd picked Mark Cavendish as this was the perfect sort of stage for him to dominate on. Thanks to that massive pile up during the sprint to the finish, however, instead of crossing the line in glory he was forced to limp across the line with a torn up jersey and a broken helmet.
It certainly looked like Cav was not badly hurt (I'm not sure how from how massive that crash looked on TV!), so I'll be predicting him as the winner of tomorrow's stage too.
It certainly looked like Cav was not badly hurt (I'm not sure how from how massive that crash looked on TV!), so I'll be predicting him as the winner of tomorrow's stage too.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Stage 3 Prediction
Looking at the profile for Stage 3, there seems to be quite a few Cat 4 hills towards the end of the stage. For this reason, even though it's technically a sprinter's stage, I'm going with a sort of sprinter/climber to win tomorrow. For that reason, I'm predicting Peter Sagan will win the stage tomorrow.
It was funny to see Sagan be totally schooled by Mark Cavendish today. I guess Cav was right this morning when he said he didn't think Sagan would be in the mix at the finish line. On the other hand, Sagan's only 22 and has plenty of time to work on sprinting if that's what he wants to do in his cycling career.
It was funny to see Sagan be totally schooled by Mark Cavendish today. I guess Cav was right this morning when he said he didn't think Sagan would be in the mix at the finish line. On the other hand, Sagan's only 22 and has plenty of time to work on sprinting if that's what he wants to do in his cycling career.
So far, I'm 3 for 3...
So far, I've predicted the winner of the first three stages of the Tour de France. I realize that there haven't been any big surprises yet, but still, perfect is perfect.
For those of you who are interested, RoadID is running a contest where you can win some sort of prize for picking the winners. You can find a link to the contest on the RoadID web site (www.roadid.com). Good luck!
For those of you who are interested, RoadID is running a contest where you can win some sort of prize for picking the winners. You can find a link to the contest on the RoadID web site (www.roadid.com). Good luck!
Sunday, July 1, 2012
My new routine
My new routine for Tour time is to get up at 5:00am to watch the Tour live on NBC Sports Network. Of course I'm DVRing it just in case, but this should work out even when I've got to work. Since the Tour seems to typically end around 8:30am local time, I can watch the stage, then hop in the shower and be ready to work by 9:00 which is generally when things get started for my client. In addition, since it's Independence Day this week and my vacation to France starts next week, I don't need to be on the road until the Tour is over.
This actually worked out pretty well. I know it's going to get tougher when some of the longer stages begin and the coverage starts at 4:00am or even earlier, but you've got to make some sacrifices for Le Tour!
This actually worked out pretty well. I know it's going to get tougher when some of the longer stages begin and the coverage starts at 4:00am or even earlier, but you've got to make some sacrifices for Le Tour!
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