Tour de Yorkshire, Cambridge...and oh yes France as well!!

[Panwearsjaune]

T minus 35 days and counting, to the Grand Depart from Leeds 5th July, with two stages in the White County, and then a third from Cambridge to the Mall in London. It's just soo exciting! It's the biggest biking event in the world, with approx 190 professional riders in about 20 teams racing across tarmac and cobbles, up mountains and down Dales and ending on 27th July on the Champs Elysee, Paris in the now traditional sprint finish there. So here's the thread to share in it all, swop info about accommodation for Tour watchers, road closures, the parcours (courses), peloton gossip, potential meet ups, tv coverage, who's got the nicest legs etc.. and everything to do with the thrills and occasional spills with the event that is a game of poker played out every day on 380 wheels. OF course if you are a newbie to all of this and are curious about the whys and hows of racing then ask and someone will pop up to answer questions. Hopefully.

So I'll depart here next with the routes of the UK 3 stages being taken so no-one gets lost and ends up in the dreaded broom wagon.

Sorry Pan.

Woooohooo [TdS]

I saw a bit of TdS the other day and they were cycling through snowdrifts in a downpour.

Haven't watched today's yet, will wait until children are in bed so can watch in peace.

Excellent messy sprint- enjoy!

Just seen a Sky update 'Brad fell off, he's ok but he couldn't catch up, he's been poorly' and a tiny bit of me rebelled inside and went 'yeah, yeah, whatevs' .

Still love Cav though .

Great Cav sprint

........

Loved the sprint.

Harrogate in a couple of weeks then.....

Wiggo has pulled out of the Tour de Suisse... Surely it's curtains now for any remaining hopes he may have had of a Tour de France place.

oh I think so DA. I'm sure he's planning for Glasgow and afterwards re poss Vuelta with another team. He seems sprightly and really fit so other teams will be interested and Sky have a responsibility toward him to allow it to happen. imho.

My ...paper work done. Spesh ordered. Maybe at the weekend!. With worky things I may not be able to pick it up though til next week!
But it gives me time to prepare the room for it, colour scheme, temp control....and have a chat with the C Boardman hybrid to not feel userped by the new arrival.

I think so, too Pan. I hope he finds a team he will be a good fit with. I'd love to know what's going on behind the scenes.

Are you sure you're not taking this new thingy a little bit too seriously? You'll be throwing a bike shower for it soon!

Doesn't the Commonwealth games overlap the end of the Tour de France anyway?

I've spent the evening glueing a tiny peloton onto the mountain.

Endo - I really hope all of this model stuff isn't just guff! It's such a romantic image to have a sized replication of a climb! Actually I don;t care if it's real or not, just the idea is fantastical.

DA, yeah I could be over-investing. But I am joking..really.. It;s just a great pleasure to have a new road bike, to ride on the Tour route hours before the peloton ride on the same stretch of 'my' road.

You know I'm only teasing, Pan!

Pan it's really a thing. I am fed up with decorating bikes now having done 4, so I wanted to do something different.

Just watched tonight's highlight, now that was a messy sprint.

Well chapeau to you Endo. Could you poss take photos of your handi-work and post them here at all? It would be great to see it.

DA, I know. Though I'm still not sure I'm grasping the enormity of it. i.e. the whole cavalcade of the TdF actually coming into my valley. It's a series of 5 reservoirs, from my 'village' up to the last one, Woodhead reservoir where they cycle by, and I ride there for fun sometimes. I'm years old but still utterly excited by it. My maties feel the same and given the fact that one of us can't ride up Holme Moss we will all be at the sharp corner when they hit Woodhead. We are on count down!

Belatedly joining in! Am on my iPod so I hope is the correct icon creator.

Am looking forward to a great summer's cycling. Will be coming down to Yorkshire from Glasgow and staying with friends from Uni who I've not seen for nearly 30 years , who I've kept in touch with via Christmas cards and who live a couple of miles from the route (and he's also a Tour Maker). We've bought a "new" car specially so that we could put a tow bar on and get a decent bike rack and fit 3 bikes on it. .

I've even bought a new bike so that I have a proper (winter so that it can take a pannier rack and mudguards ) bike - a Specialized Allez (3rd hand but with a good pedigree - its 1st owner is performing well as a Junior at the Revolution series). So now dh, on his Triban 3 is complaining that he has the least good bike (ds has a Cannondale Caad8)

For the Commonwealth Games, we've managed to get tickets to the Keirin and Scratch final night session at the velodrome - we were one of the lucky ones that got in to the ticketing system on the fiasco-ridden 1st day that they re-opened the ticketing platform still don't know how as my PC didn't get in for 12 hours and was kicked out twice without me ever managing to buy anything yet dh who logged in after me was the one that got in .

We'll have to set up a mini Hub in the velodrome so that we can watch the TdF on the Champs Élysées.

And then we'll be able to watch the road race from multiple sites as it does loops around Glasgow, having had a practice run last year with the British Champs.

We're planning on hoping to go to Greece and there's only one week in July that we can squeeze it in.

Welcome aboard, prettybird You've come to the right place, a corner of MN full of cycling nuts

Pan I totally get the excitement of it all, at least as much as I can from where I am! I am so of you all actually being able to be there & see it all, & get involved in the atmosphere. You must be feeling so proud that the actual TdF is really going to be there, in your own back yard so to speak. Wonderful stuff.

Another thing we do in the outdoorsy Peaks is rock climbing! Going out this afternoon with my world-class mountaineering matey. He will display great patience with me. For about an hour. Then start climbing all over the rock sans harness or rope, and I will watch whilst having 999 on rapid call.
Which means missing the Uruguay v Eng-er-land game....
All of which is nothing to do with !

I have just got tickets for the Manchester Velodrome in January! Woo hoo! Never been to a Velodrome before so can't wait.

And...

...my training partner has made the development squad for a certain big set of games happening in 2 years. I need to shift this concussion and get out on the bike.....

How, lets have it. You are Hannah Barnes, aren't you? It's a pleasure to have you with us!

Rocking climbing was fabulous, fwiw. At one point the convo went like this:
Matey: Pan, climb down.

Matey: Have I taught you nothing? You're climbing like a pig would. Get yourself together. Now.
Me:

After that it was fantastic! Every pro team needs a leader like my matey.

Having said that, matey says he wouldn't dream of doing what I do on a bike. "It's too dangerous!". Softy.

Here;s a nice article about what it takes to be a mechanic on a Tour

Thinking of getting the Altera Strada DL tow bar baike rack from the Roofbox company - anyone have any comments or alternative suggestions. It looks a good deal and can take if we get the extension bit.

pb greetings again! Hope all is fine in Weegieland?
Just watched the video and it looks a brilliant design. Really like the shift off the tail gate to allow boot access. And the clasps of the wheels to the frame. It isn't cheap, is it? But..to carry multiple bikes so easily it looks like a bit of a winner. I have a rear carrier from Halfords for three bikes and I'm often nervous about driving with it fully ladened, but that thing appears as a real deal.

That was why I was so pleased to get so much for our old car - it was what was going to "pay" for the bike rack. Our lovely mechanic basically said he didn't think he could get it through its next MOT (due 7 August) without major expenditure (11 year old Mazda 6 TS2: engine still running beautifully but the arse falling out of it, hence not wanting to compromise it further with a towbar).

Put it on Gumtree for a speculative £600 - and sold it first night! and yes, I was honest about its shortcomings

With ds' cycling (North West Youth Tour, Isle of Man Youth Tour) and also wanting to do social cycling , I see the bike rack as a long term investment :)

We temporarily now have a 6 year old Vauxhall Vectra 1.8 .....as soon as we can afford a Mazda6 again, we'll be getting one again. Its boot was like a Tardis: it was able to take 2 bikes, 2 spare wheels, luggage, a gazebo, race kit bag, rollers, 3 people and still see out of the back window! [back]