Voeckler goes vertical in Tour de France
Awesome finish last night in the Tour de France. I thought for a moment Voigt might be too strong after catching up onto the breakaway. Voeckler won the stage in a brutal 4 hours and 46 minutes.
I heard the commentators mention that no one in the Peloton likes Voeckler. Maybe it's because he is unpredictable and doesn't follow the script, i.e Peloton hunts down break-away
but as a viewer he's superb to watch. Another comment was that he is not a strong sprinter, maybe so, but lord of mercy he can climb. More on surviving the stages with alpine climbs here Tonight another gnarly old day in the tour looms ominously ahead:
Here is the profile of the last KM:
I heard the commentators mention that no one in the Peloton likes Voeckler. Maybe it's because he is unpredictable and doesn't follow the script, i.e Peloton hunts down break-away
but as a viewer he's superb to watch. Another comment was that he is not a strong sprinter, maybe so, but lord of mercy he can climb. More on surviving the stages with alpine climbs here Tonight another gnarly old day in the tour looms ominously ahead:
Work Cycles Bike of the day
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Tour de France goes vertical tonight!
Whoever claims this stage will be a tough rider- Phillipe Gilbert, Thomas Voeckler anyone?
Bike of the day is back
It's been a long time between elegant cycles but here is a fixed Dahon Cadenza I spotted today on campus.
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Apologies for the Ditto Bullet in the background
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Potential buyer, do not be deceived
Tour de France 2012
Kicks off Saturday with the prologue but then it'll be time for the real action in stage 2 with a nice uphill sprint to finish
Best borrowed projector story I've heard for a while is this one:
The Tour de France is on at a beautiful time here in Korea. Not a beautiful time of the year i.e. rainy season, but time of the day. Starts after dinner and finishes just after midnight. You can usually therefore catch quite a bit of each stage. It is horribly humid for a while and the rain can be torrential.
To avoid the weather, and still get a work out my office-mate took his bike into the office ( to benefit from the air conditioning), and set it up on one of those trainers that you can ride your real bike on. He borrowed the projector from the audio and video unit and projected the previous night's stage from Le Tour onto the wall while he rode along with the peloton.
Giant bicycle for sale Seoul
http://seoul.craigslist.co.kr/bik/3043995562.html
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Can Voeckler keep the Yellow Jersey?
Thomas Voeckler earns a lead in the GC of Le Tour on stage 9Voeckler has vowed to fight to retain his overall lead.
"It was a wet and stressful day, but one more day in the yellow jersey is great," he said.
"To be honest I expect to lose it tomorrow but it doesn't mean I'm not going to fight to keep it."
His Europcar team director Jean-Rene Bernaudeau was not so defeatist.
"Thomas will never admit it but I think he can keep it unless the favourites attack as early as the first climb," he said.
"If they wait for the last climb, I don't see Thomas losing 2:30 on it."
Text pinched from the ABC
Photo from Zimbio.com
Bike of the Day, Kyoto
Found this emblematic utilitarian shopping 'stay at home'-Dad cycle in Kyoto. One day I will have children just to ride such a bike
Le Tour 2011 Stage 12 Thursday 14 July (Bastille Day)
As is clear from the profile above of the 211Km stage, this might be the real start of this year's tour. The climbers and the contenders in the overall race may take the opportunity to raise their game and try to cut back Voeckler's lead in the general classification. It should be a fantastic stage.
Le Tour crash: Hoogerland's eyes
You often read on cycle blogs about cars and cyclist collisions. On Stage 9 of the Tour de France,
Hoogerland and Flecha were in a breakaway with less than an hour to the finish line of the stage when Flecha was sideswiped by a French television camera car, who was trying to pass and swerved into the riders to avoid a tree. You can see the crazy footage here:
It was massive as the breakaway was successful and significant as Voeckler went on to gain four minutes in the general classification on Schleck, Contador, Evans et al. Hoogerland and Flecha crawled to the finish bloody and battered.
These cameramen are employed to shoot footage of the race, and the driver quite violently swerved in from the edge of the road and smacked one rider into the other. Both survived. No bones were broken unlike in the earlier high-speed downhill crash that lead to a number of riders withdrawing. Hoogerland was however thrown into a barbed wire fence and after finishing the race, apparently received 33 stitches.
Hoogerland is still the leader in the polka-dot climber's jersey, but as one commentator on the race remarked last night, he "continues to have a far off look in his eyes" after the incident.
Guri cyclepath to the Han update
It's the rainy season here in South Korea. We have a short period of humid, grey weather with downpours every few days. Not much riding, a lot of viewing of the Tour de France and frequent blogging about riding happens.
On Sunday I returned from Busan and the weather was clear. I took a 30 KM ride linking the Cheongyecheon cyclepath to the Han cyclepath to the Guri cyclepath, and then roared back East -West on the road past Sangbong station line 7. The section from the Han to Guri used to be in a real mess (see link below), and I guess this post is an update. The Han Cyclepath to Guri cyclepath is now all clear and smooth riding.
Tour de France 2011 a weekend for the climbers
Cycling the Kamo river path Kyoto
Looking North along the Kamo cycle path.Rode the Kamo river path in Kyoto many times from east of the imperial palace in the north down to near a bridge connecting to JR Kyoto station in the south. We found the east side of the river to have the smoother cycling path as the west side becomes cobbled and then runs out somewhere adjacent to Shijo-Dori or perhaps even before. Though sometimes unpaved and a little bumpy, the single gear commuting bikes we borrowed from our Ryokan handled the surface fine.
Heading south at dusk.
In town.Japanese pedestrians and most vehicles (apart from buses) were very aware and tolerant of bicycles. In Kyoto cyclists tended to confidently share the foot-path with pedestrians, though young cyclists tended to hit the road briefly to avoid pedestrians or other cyclists in times of congestion.
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