My Tour de France
- toolonglegs
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My Tour de France
Postby toolonglegs » Thu May 15, 2008 5:31 pm
Day Zero!!!
Well I have been in France less than 24hours...seriously tired...travelling time from NZ was 32 hours.With 4 yr old twins it was rather exhausting.4 flights and less than 5 hours sleep...not much riding for a day or two .
Plus it is raining today and colder than Sydney so no great loss.
On the plus side I was rather happy on the drive home from Lyon airport to see at least 15 cyclists out training...and that was in a 30-40k drive on pretty small country lanes.Living in a small town with a zillion country roads leading in every direction has it bonus'!.
Can't wait to get back out there....I know these roads really well but stil find little treasures everywhere I go...and they are rather beautiful roads as the area I now live in has about 1000 swamps for me to ride around!.If I go on a 100k ride I can fit in some 15-20km big climbs up to about 1400 meters.If I drive 50-100k's first I can include Alpe Dues Huez or Clo de Croix Fer in my little jaunts ... will have to take a camera out to make everyone jealous.
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Postby mikesbytes » Thu May 15, 2008 9:19 pm
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- toolonglegs
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Postby toolonglegs » Fri May 16, 2008 7:09 pm
I am a little bit northeast of Lyon,so the proper Alps are about 100kms away...but the foot hills start 35kms to the east and there are some seriously steep clims in those...steeper (but shorter) than any I have done in the Alps so far!
I snuck in 2 good rides in NZ before flying out but with only a 39/23 combo on I seriously struggled on some of the climbs where I was..they were only two to 3.5k long but up to 7-8% av grad ...which my 100kgs always finds hard!!...so the big alps will be a wee while off!.
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Postby mikesbytes » Fri May 16, 2008 8:43 pm
BTW, where did you do the rides in NZ?
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Postby toolonglegs » Thu May 22, 2008 11:30 pm
As you can see pretty damn flat where I am...which is good given my current state.But the hills start proper 35km east and they dont stop getting bigger till Italy .Should have taken my camera out on my morning ride...just beautiful,a bit chilly still but just had to ride harder to warm up.
Bad news on the racing front,it will cost me quite a bit to join and race as the licences go from Sep to Aug.So not really worth it for 2 months,so gives me a bit of time to wind up some form.
Mike around Cambridge the climbs are around Mangakawi .Also did a loop of Mangatautiri which is up and down the whole way.
The biggest climb is over the Kaimi's to Tauranga but I didn't do it this time.
I will be a week or to till I hit the real climbs here,need to get a 27 on the rear of the Cannondale to have any hope of an enjoyable ride...23 just dosent cut it for me!.
But we are living in a house now!,kids are at school,visa application is under way and 2 weeks till I have internet at home .
So all good so far!!!!...havent thought about work yet,but will have the kids in 5 weeks when school holidays start for 6 weeks,so gives me time 2 or 3 months to learn French as no one at all speaks English!.
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Postby toolonglegs » Thu May 22, 2008 11:57 pm
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Postby sandman » Fri May 23, 2008 10:08 am
Great to her from you. Excellent on settling in and finding your way around the place. Funny that I gather your in more of a "rural" area so the push to speak English is diminished
Only yesterday I had an idiot in a small truck (Beaurepairs tyre truck) overtake a car ( they were both oncomming) while I am on the road with no shoulder. I waved my fist at him and he just smiled, doing well over 100km/hr and passed within 1 meter.
I sat down and watched "Hell on Wheels" and another TDF movie ( think it was CSC team in 2003/2004) and thought about what kind of riding you'll be able to do. All I can say is WOW !!!!! You're going to have a blast, especially when you get the 27 on the back
Great to hear from you and keep us posted on what you're up to...Be nice when google get higher res maps of where you live and what a challenge, street names that make no sense
Cheers..Pete
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Postby mikesbytes » Fri May 23, 2008 2:04 pm
http://www.nsw.cycling.org.au/files/Rac ... #Handicaps
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Postby toolonglegs » Sun May 25, 2008 11:49 pm
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Postby toolonglegs » Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:58 pm
The last two years it has gone very close,2 years ago it went thru a town 25k's north of here and last year it had a finish and start in that same town.Chuck wrote:Toolong,
Does Le Tour travel through or near where you are this year.
Are we gonna see you running alongside the riders, in some crazy garb, on the telecast back here in oz .
This year the stage after Alpe Dues Heuz finishes an hour south of here and the stage after starts 45min west.Not sure what we are up to yet as I have to buy a car first...but I will have the kids on holiday so might go to the Alpes over night with them...we will see.
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Postby toolonglegs » Sun Jun 08, 2008 12:10 am
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Postby mikesbytes » Sun Jun 08, 2008 8:29 am
- toolonglegs
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Postby toolonglegs » Sun Jun 08, 2008 5:20 pm
- toolonglegs
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Postby toolonglegs » Thu Jun 26, 2008 4:26 am
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Postby Aushiker » Thu Jun 26, 2008 9:56 am
Andrew
Aushiker.com
- toolonglegs
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Postby toolonglegs » Thu Jun 26, 2008 3:50 pm
Don't know about a Look just yet,see a lot of them around thou.The boat arrives with all our stuff on the 6th so I need to source a training frame by then to put all my bits on!.
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