Postcards From the Tour 2005, Part Two
http://californiawineandfood.com/articles/162/1/Postcards-From-the-Tour-2005-Part-Two/Page1.html
CWF Sources
By CWF Sources
Published on 07/14/2005
There was about one minute to the start of stage 5 in Chambord, and the starting village was nearly empty. But there was a lone Tour cyclist still lingering at the souvenir booth.
His name isn't important, rather the notion that Tour de France riders stay pretty relaxed about each day's task.
It's common for riders to mingle in the starting villages, talk with fans, visit with friends and family, and sign autographs until moments before the start of a race.
Postcards From the Tour 2005, Part Two
There was about one minute to the start of stage 5 in Chambord, and the starting village was nearly empty. But there was a lone Tour cyclist still lingering at the souvenir booth.
His name isn't important, rather the notion that Tour de France riders stay pretty relaxed about each day's task.
It's common for riders to mingle in the starting villages, talk with fans, visit with friends and family, and sign autographs until moments before the start of a race. Tour cyclists like to use their cellphones and drink their coffee, too. And a last-minute conversation or one more cup is common -- just as a race is about to unfold.
Each rider must sign-in near the starting line, too, and sometimes they have to weave their ways through fans to do so. But it's all done so without a lot of fuss and bother.
There are exceptions, most notably Lance Armstrong. He avoids the starting village and often signs in and then returns to seclusion in his team bus.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The French road system is a bizarre, complex web of narrow city streets, country roads, national routes and auto routes.
As a whole, the system is a combination of logic, convenience and absurdity.
City streets called rues can be only slightly wider than the width of a small car and sometimes there's parking on both sides of the street.
Country roads can be glorious as they wind their way through vineyards, past chateaus and along endless miles of sunflower fields.
State routes are the equivalent of smaller U.S. highways and are designated by green signs. Auto routes, the largest asphalt routes in France, are the super highways and designated with blue signs. Directions to any two major cities, for example, will include directions via blue signs and green signs
A driver can avoid hefty road tolls by utilizing state routes and country roads, and the distance from city A to City B may be shorter via smaller roads. But it may take at least twice as long to get to a destination via green sign directions.
Potentially more problematic is the direction directional signs are pointed. A directional sign positioned at a 45-degree tells a driver to continue in the same direction. It's only when a directional sign is pointed in a 90-degree angle that a driver should turn left or right.
And finally, France is big on roundabouts, just like many European countries. There are many nuances to proper roundabout etiquette, but with only two rules, a driver can fare well. The rules: 1. If there's no other vehicle in the roundabout, proceed; 2. Do it aggressively.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
A professional cyclist may log 1,000 hours and 15,000 miles a year on his bike. In other words, there are few things more intimate than a Tour de France rider and his relationship with his saddle.
Cyclists don't talk about it often, but it's the myriad problems that can develop from riding hours on a small seat that takes as many riders out of races as crashes or illness.
During the Tour de France stage 4 team time trial last week, Dutch cyclist Bram Tankink broke his seat and had to ride the final three miles while standing.
Others cyclists have suffered serious problems when their saddles have broken during races. And riders' careers have been severely curtailed because of lingering problems of a sensitive kind.
Many years ago, pro riders used chunks of raw meat in their cycling shorts as padding. Current cyclists rely on various special short inserts and preventative lubricants. Yet problems still routinely occur.
Lance Armstrong uses a Selle San Marco Concor, a seat first popular 20 years ago. While some pro riders' choices cost several hundred dollars, Armstrong's model retails for about $60. He uses it for simple reasons — it fits well and provides few issues.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Rest days at the Tour de France are always misnomers. No competition is held and the pace of the day eases, but it's hardly a day off.
Teams hold press conferences in their hotels and various Tour officials have receptions and social gatherings.
In today's instance, the press room was on the infield of a velodrome, in the Palais des Sport in Grenoble. The facility was a venue for the figuresksting during the 1968 Olympics and is now used for one of the most unique competitions in cycling - six-day racing.
As for the rest day, it was a 425-kilometer drive this morning to Grenoble, mostly along auto routes. It took just under four hours (including two 15-minutes stops), and I believe I averaged about 130 kilometers or 81 miles per hour.
Speaking of driving, I have a diesel Citroen, a four-door sedan with manual transmission. Today, I surpassed 3,000 kilometers of driving for the Tour, about 1,863 miles. The price of diesel fuel is around 1.15 Euros per liter or 4.37 Euros per gallon or about $5.25 gallon. Gas fuel is about $1 more per gallon. So far, I filled the gas tank three times, about 60 Euros per tank.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Editor’s note: James Raia is a journalist who spends most of his time writing about endurance sports. He’s currently covering the Tour de France. In addition to filing stories for the Sacramento Bee, Miami Herald and National Public Radio, most days James will send us a “Postcard from the Tour.” The observations above are from his experiences during the first four stages of the race.
Readers who’d like to read more from James, whether about the Tour de France or other sports topics can visit http://www.byjamesraia.com.
His name isn't important, rather the notion that Tour de France riders stay pretty relaxed about each day's task.
It's common for riders to mingle in the starting villages, talk with fans, visit with friends and family, and sign autographs until moments before the start of a race. Tour cyclists like to use their cellphones and drink their coffee, too. And a last-minute conversation or one more cup is common -- just as a race is about to unfold.
Each rider must sign-in near the starting line, too, and sometimes they have to weave their ways through fans to do so. But it's all done so without a lot of fuss and bother.
There are exceptions, most notably Lance Armstrong. He avoids the starting village and often signs in and then returns to seclusion in his team bus.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The French road system is a bizarre, complex web of narrow city streets, country roads, national routes and auto routes.
As a whole, the system is a combination of logic, convenience and absurdity.
City streets called rues can be only slightly wider than the width of a small car and sometimes there's parking on both sides of the street.
Country roads can be glorious as they wind their way through vineyards, past chateaus and along endless miles of sunflower fields.
State routes are the equivalent of smaller U.S. highways and are designated by green signs. Auto routes, the largest asphalt routes in France, are the super highways and designated with blue signs. Directions to any two major cities, for example, will include directions via blue signs and green signs
A driver can avoid hefty road tolls by utilizing state routes and country roads, and the distance from city A to City B may be shorter via smaller roads. But it may take at least twice as long to get to a destination via green sign directions.
Potentially more problematic is the direction directional signs are pointed. A directional sign positioned at a 45-degree tells a driver to continue in the same direction. It's only when a directional sign is pointed in a 90-degree angle that a driver should turn left or right.
And finally, France is big on roundabouts, just like many European countries. There are many nuances to proper roundabout etiquette, but with only two rules, a driver can fare well. The rules: 1. If there's no other vehicle in the roundabout, proceed; 2. Do it aggressively.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
A professional cyclist may log 1,000 hours and 15,000 miles a year on his bike. In other words, there are few things more intimate than a Tour de France rider and his relationship with his saddle.
Cyclists don't talk about it often, but it's the myriad problems that can develop from riding hours on a small seat that takes as many riders out of races as crashes or illness.
During the Tour de France stage 4 team time trial last week, Dutch cyclist Bram Tankink broke his seat and had to ride the final three miles while standing.
Others cyclists have suffered serious problems when their saddles have broken during races. And riders' careers have been severely curtailed because of lingering problems of a sensitive kind.
Many years ago, pro riders used chunks of raw meat in their cycling shorts as padding. Current cyclists rely on various special short inserts and preventative lubricants. Yet problems still routinely occur.
Lance Armstrong uses a Selle San Marco Concor, a seat first popular 20 years ago. While some pro riders' choices cost several hundred dollars, Armstrong's model retails for about $60. He uses it for simple reasons — it fits well and provides few issues.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Rest days at the Tour de France are always misnomers. No competition is held and the pace of the day eases, but it's hardly a day off.
Teams hold press conferences in their hotels and various Tour officials have receptions and social gatherings.
In today's instance, the press room was on the infield of a velodrome, in the Palais des Sport in Grenoble. The facility was a venue for the figuresksting during the 1968 Olympics and is now used for one of the most unique competitions in cycling - six-day racing.
As for the rest day, it was a 425-kilometer drive this morning to Grenoble, mostly along auto routes. It took just under four hours (including two 15-minutes stops), and I believe I averaged about 130 kilometers or 81 miles per hour.
Speaking of driving, I have a diesel Citroen, a four-door sedan with manual transmission. Today, I surpassed 3,000 kilometers of driving for the Tour, about 1,863 miles. The price of diesel fuel is around 1.15 Euros per liter or 4.37 Euros per gallon or about $5.25 gallon. Gas fuel is about $1 more per gallon. So far, I filled the gas tank three times, about 60 Euros per tank.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Editor’s note: James Raia is a journalist who spends most of his time writing about endurance sports. He’s currently covering the Tour de France. In addition to filing stories for the Sacramento Bee, Miami Herald and National Public Radio, most days James will send us a “Postcard from the Tour.” The observations above are from his experiences during the first four stages of the race.
Readers who’d like to read more from James, whether about the Tour de France or other sports topics can visit http://www.byjamesraia.com.