Tour Down Under

[hybridbellbaske]

I see that Paulandmonster has been posting the stage maps for the TDU- thanks! These are the roads that we here ride on all the time.

I hope you are following the TDU coverage on Versus (I think) so that you can see that the riding around here is pretty good.

This week our town (a city of about 1million people) has gone cycling- and specifically, Lance Armstrong- crazy.

I went to a Press Club lunch on Monday to hear Phil Liggett speak which was great fun, but the "normal" media is also in a Lance frenzy. Whether you love Lance or not, for a cycling enthusiast, Adelaide is certainly the place to be this week. There are cyclists from all over Australia here on holidays this week following the race. Coffee and pasta consumption will have gone through the roof.

Rustychisel and I, and about 7,200 of our closest friends, will be riding the course tomorrow before the race comes through. Given that we will be starting about 4 hours before the pros I sure as heck hope we finish before the rolling road closure sweeps us up!

Lance certainly appears to be enjoying the racing, and, putting on his best PR face, is saying lots of nice things about our town and the riding in our hills.

I'll let you know how we fare on the ride tomorrow.

[rustychisel]

NOT A SPOILER
The race is getting ripped a new one today on the stage to Victor Harbour... breakaways, crashes, Lance trying out his legs... I'm stuck in the orifice. Anyone who says the TDU is a low intensity 'beginning of season' training affair is talking rubbish, the riders are discussing it in detail this year, particularly.

Hello HBB, see you at the start tomorrow :banana:

one banana, two banana, three banana more...

[William]

I stumbled across the Versus coverage yesterday. Seemed a bit abbreviated but it was cool to watch anyway. I'll be watching it again today. I would love to be down there riding the course with you. :cool:

Have fun! :banana:



William

[andy mac]

good coverage here:

http://velonews.com/

:beer:

andy

[bagochips3]

Slightly off topic: Anybody happen to know the story on the black water bottles everyone has? Seems like a bad idea in the hot sun.

[Viper]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoYwqKZ_2CA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OSJ_fVVQss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ7uKWb9w80

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXP7WhB1s-s

:beer:

[Viper]

Ima idiot. Every day I tell myself to catch the cheesy 30 minute show on Versus at 4pm and every day I miss it.

Does anyone have a link to the real deal, the stage from today? Please post it and thanks. I have BATTLESTAR GALACTICA to look forward to, but I need some Phil and Paul and Lance.

:beer:

[Simon Q]

A group of 20 of us headed over from Melbourne for a few days last week to follow it on bikes and we all agreed that it easily one of the best bike trips we have done and almost all that went to Adelaide, myself included, have done bike trips to the Giro, Tour or both.

Great racing (much more agressive and better than much of the press, such as Cycle Sport mag, gives it credit for) that often loops/changes direction so you can see it at several points, there is some great riding close to Adelaide and you come back to the same place every night vs packing every freaking day. So much easier and less hassle than chasing a Tour or Giro where you see them only once a day anyway. After a shower you can head to the village (a huge air conditioned tent in a square oppoiste the Hilton hotel in the city centre where all the teams stay) to watch the bikes being prep'd, manuf exhibits with heaps of eye candy and, most importantly, a beer garden. Also, you can get much closer to the riders than at the Tour etc. At the start of stage 2 I was standing literally a few feet from Lance and Johan as they chatted behind the team van before heading off for the start. They weren't really saying much of any import but it was still cool.

It will be an annual pilgrimage for us from now on. I already have a permanent leave pass approved by my wife.