Like everyone, watching the Tour de France fires me up and inspires me to do greater things. I have to make one small admission here though, I am usually asleep before the Tour starts! I am a sleeper and suffer without it so I really have trouble keeping my eyes open late at night. I do wake up for the crashes - not the most inspiring moments! I guess for me, the most memorable moments have been watching Jens Voigt smash all of the climbers on the Tourmalet in the Hautacam stage, and gives hope to the rest of us, "non-climbers." Watching the Tour has brought back memories of my experiences of seeing a Tour live - last year at the Tour Down Under in Adelaide.
Clare with last nights Stage winner, Cyril Dessel, who shared some climbing tips with us...
After gaining hill climbing expertise, Clare wanted some race-winning tactics, so she spoke to Bjarne Riis.
He may not have been that impressed by my photography skills but was keen to let us in on some secrets.
We thought we better double check what we had learnt with the two people who have probably seen more cycling than anyone else I know, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin.
The crowd favorite was definitely Robbie McEwen and we saw him suffer a bit on Old Willunga Hill
he then went on to win the final stage
Adelaide was heaps of fun and given that I can never get my timing right for Classics or Tours when overseas, I would love to go back and watch the Tour Down Under again.
Did you know that SRAM even provided him with pink brake hoods? I personally thought this was really cool and did my own little search to find out what I could get. Collectors have to set rules for themselves otherwise their garages would be full and their pockets empty. My rules are quite simple, it has to be the right pink and the right price (Hey, I'm a student and I'm not that insane!) So far, I've spray painted my bike hot pink (ok, Dad did) and have the shirts, sunnies, helmet, socks to match. I also have a bag full of pink gear ready to go on my next bike: bar tape, nipples (not what you're thinking!! They're for the spokes apparently), bottle cages, pedals but how much is too much?
