Count Steer wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2023 4:50 pm
Tomorrow looks tougher and the next day's ride is mountains again. I guess this phase is the equivalent of the sorting hat. Pog actually signalled his intentions for this phase in the interview at the start but the commentators seemed surprised by the tactics.
(First glimpse of Mont Blanc today....haven't climbed that one ).
Yes,with those proper tough mountain stages coming up I was surprised how UAE raced today.
I've not climbed Mont Blanc either,done the Tour De Mont Blanc trek though & took the gondola to the top,nice cafe
II've got a vague plan of doing the trek again & leaving the bike in Chamonix for a couple of weeks.Getting a bit old for cycling some of those Alpine climbs
weeksy wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2023 5:05 pm
Riding some of the Stages/locations is something I really ought to have done
That window has gone now though really
Tosh man! Keep cycling, stay fit there's loads of time. Just don't pick the brutal ones. I know a couple of retired people who like cycling in France and they do some stages. (Tbh in some areas it's hard not to ride at least some bits ).
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
Count Steer wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2023 4:50 pm
Tomorrow looks tougher and the next day's ride is mountains again. I guess this phase is the equivalent of the sorting hat. Pog actually signalled his intentions for this phase in the interview at the start but the commentators seemed surprised by the tactics.
(First glimpse of Mont Blanc today....haven't climbed that one ).
Yes,with those proper tough mountain stages coming up I was surprised how UAE raced today.
I've not climbed Mont Blanc either,done the Tour De Mont Blanc trek though & took the gondola to the top,nice cafe
Just had a look at the Tour de Mont Blanc trek. If I booked one of those luggage transfer trips and packed a couple of spare knees......
Hmmm...quite fancy a crack at that though.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
weeksy wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2023 5:05 pm
Riding some of the Stages/locations is something I really ought to have done
That window has gone now though really
When I first came out here for a winter and found out the TdF finished at the bit of resort just above me (Aime 2000, 1987 I think) I made a plan that I'd learn to cycle properly and do the section just from the bottom of the mountain road up.
Now I think the only way I'll do that is if I have an electric bike!! So not gonna be special at all, so probably will stick to motorbikes!! LOL (no way can I cycle uphill on a road bike with the arm - maybe I could adjust, but I don't think it's 'necessary' to put the metal joint through that!!)
Life is for living. Buy the shoes. Eat the cake. Ride the bikes. Just, ride the bikes!!
weeksy wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2023 6:25 pm
I don't think I have the brain power and determination for it.
Ironically it was a MTB holiday in Morzine that got me thinking about buying a road bike
I think we had to go along the road between Les Gets & Morzine & I thought 'This would be ace on a proper road bike;
Count Steer wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2023 4:50 pm
Tomorrow looks tougher and the next day's ride is mountains again. I guess this phase is the equivalent of the sorting hat. Pog actually signalled his intentions for this phase in the interview at the start but the commentators seemed surprised by the tactics.
(First glimpse of Mont Blanc today....haven't climbed that one ).
Yes,with those proper tough mountain stages coming up I was surprised how UAE raced today.
I've not climbed Mont Blanc either,done the Tour De Mont Blanc trek though & took the gondola to the top,nice cafe
Just had a look at the Tour de Mont Blanc trek. If I booked one of those luggage transfer trips and packed a couple of spare knees......
I also did the Haute rote trek with Exodus,Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn,but obviously that one's not circular so if you leave your bike & gear you would have to get back to Chamonix
Yes,with those proper tough mountain stages coming up I was surprised how UAE raced today.
I've not climbed Mont Blanc either,done the Tour De Mont Blanc trek though & took the gondola to the top,nice cafe
Just had a look at the Tour de Mont Blanc trek. If I booked one of those luggage transfer trips and packed a couple of spare knees......
I also did the Haute rote trek with Exodus,Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn,but obviously that one's not circular so if you leave your bike & gear you would have to get back to Chamonix
Haven't got a bike.
Did you get to the top of the Matterhorn?
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
I also did the Haute rote trek with Exodus,Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn,but obviously that one's not circular so if you leave your bike & gear you would have to get back to Chamonix
Haven't got a bike.
Did you get to the top of the Matterhorn?
No we finished in Zermatt,they don't have a cafe at the top of the Matterhorn so I visited the climbing museum instead,highly recommended & quite fascinating if you likr that kind of thing.
We still got into some proper remote spots on the trek & were in snowfields in August.
In the early 90's, when DH racing was just starting to get traction as a discipline in its own right, a few of us Brit racers went out to Alpe D'huez to do the Mega avalanche.
We got there a couple of days before the ski lift opened for the official practise, but we'd planned ahead and had brought a twist go 50cc 'ped with us in the van.
The idea being that you left the ped chained to a lamp post down the bottom of the run and then all drive up to the top in the van. Left the van at the top, all barrel down the mountain and then one of us would unchain the ped and putter, very slowly, back up to the top and sling the ped in the back of the van and drive back down, unload the ped and chain it back to the lamp post and repeat...
Which works fine as long as someone remembers to bring the key for the lock with them and not leave it in the van.
So we, being young and, allegedly, fit, decided that we'd ride up the road to the top. We figured, given the average TDF riders take about 50 minutes to get to the top that we could smash it out in an hour and a half....
Nope. Nada. Niet.
3 hours.
To be fair, half an hour or so was spent vomiting.
Just out of interest, do you guys that know about the tour post 'cryptically' to avoid doing spoilers for others or cos you don't think anyone that doesn't understand the racing will be interested?
I totally do not understand the technical stuff, team tactics or even how/why the jerseys are awarded/won!! (I know the jerseys have been explained before, but that was about 12 months ago! I currently have a squashed pea memory!!)
Just wondering cos, I read your posts about exciting, difficult, unexpected or whatever and go watch the highlights and come away with no more information than I get from here!!
I am interested, just not knowledgable!!
Anyway - I was surprised that Pogacar (sp??) went so very slowly but then lost the mountain bit. Isn't that really unusual?? I didn't think he'd give the other guy that much of a chance to get by?
Life is for living. Buy the shoes. Eat the cake. Ride the bikes. Just, ride the bikes!!
Oh, and also - WTAF with the spectators? I know it's almost impossible to put barriers all the way along, but WHY do they meet in the middle of the road and just about part for the bikes? Surely that slows the bikes down??
Life is for living. Buy the shoes. Eat the cake. Ride the bikes. Just, ride the bikes!!
Noggin wrote: ↑Sun Jul 16, 2023 7:10 am
Just out of interest, do you guys that know about the tour post 'cryptically' to avoid doing spoilers for others or cos you don't think anyone that doesn't understand the racing will be interested?
I totally do not understand the technical stuff, team tactics or even how/why the jerseys are awarded/won!! (I know the jerseys have been explained before, but that was about 12 months ago! I currently have a squashed pea memory!!)
Just wondering cos, I read your posts about exciting, difficult, unexpected or whatever and go watch the highlights and come away with no more information than I get from here!!
It was just that some people don't get to watch in real time and they watch the highlights at 7pm. Seems a shame to tell them what happened and what the results are before they watch it.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
Noggin wrote: ↑Sun Jul 16, 2023 7:10 am
Oh, and also - WTAF with the spectators? I know it's almost impossible to put barriers all the way along, but WHY do they meet in the middle of the road and just about part for the bikes? Surely that slows the bikes down??
I find it really annoying but then I'm "not a proper fan" just an interested observer.
If any spectator in full team getup dragged me off my bike with their sodding banner, they'd get a proper shoeing.
Last edited by DefTrap on Sun Jul 16, 2023 8:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
Noggin wrote: ↑Sun Jul 16, 2023 7:10 am
Oh, and also - WTAF with the spectators? I know it's almost impossible to put barriers all the way along, but WHY do they meet in the middle of the road and just about part for the bikes? Surely that slows the bikes down??
I find it really annoying but then I'm "not a proper fan" just an interested observer.
If any spectator in full team getup dragged me off my bike with their sodding banner, they'd get a proper showing.
It does never fail to surprise me how stupid (drunk?) people are. The ones that insist on running alongside the riders shouting at them are a particularly irritating bunch of
I did wonder if the camera foreshortens the view of the parting wave of spectators so it looks like they're closer to the approaching rider than they actually are.
Having said that though, the spectator-free final section of the Puy de Dôme seemed a bit sterile. Wonder what the riders thought?
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
When I first got into cycling the first time I saw the spectators on a mountain stage was an eye openener,I find them really irritating.
I said last week,it's as if someone's rounded up the 'area's 'special people' dressed them in cycling gear,bussed them in to a mountain stage & given the really special one's a dry powder flare.I've seen riders punch the idiots & police get robust at times,I just wish they'd clamp down on them.
Spectators weren't allowed on last Sunday's stage up to Le Puy & I thought it was all the better for it.
I always keep it vague about the results in any sport so as not to spoil things for people watching later
).
