View from the Back
Ramblings of a retiree in France
Jumping for joy
I was at the Tour de France, specifically the last three days and got to see Bradley Wiggins crowned the first British winner – historic or what? I was there thanks to a girlfriend who was working for Eurosport, interviewing the riders pre- and post-race. What a brill job? Indeed, she’s an old hand at this and not only is she a gifted linguist, her other half’s a professional cyclist, so she knows many in the professional peloton and, as you can see from the photograph, she’s very attractive – it doesn’t hurt. In fact, and deservedly so, she’s built quite a following on Twitter and Facebook. If you’re interested, you can read about my experience over on VeloVoices.
In effect, with the travel, that took out five whole days but I don’t regret a single moment! I was in two minds whether or not to go but my beloved, ever the voice of reason, said I might regret it if I didn’t and he was soooooooooooooo right. I made loads of great contacts for future VeloVoices interviews whom I’ll hopefully be able to catch up with either during the Vuelta or maybe the World Championships. My Tour highlight in truth wasn’t Wiggo’s win but rather Tommy Voeckler’s endorsement of my (in)famous pain d’epice! I also got to meet Maurice Greene who’ll be commentating during the Olympics for Eurosport and, while he knew nothing about cycling, really got caught up in the whole atmosphere.
I flew back from Paris at the crack of dawn on Monday morning, in truth it’s debatable whether it was worth getting a hotel room at all on Sunday evening. The plan was to head straight down to Pordenone, north-east of Venice, where my beloved was meeting one of his clients. I’d decided to go along because it’s close to where one of my dearest friends lives whom I don’t get to see as much as I’d really like. In the end, due to other commitments, we didn’t leave until after lunch by which time I was really flagging. You know how I need my eight hours a night.
Mindful of my commitment to racing an uphill time-trial, I took my bike because Pordenone is in the foothills of the Dolomites. On day one, Tuesday, I rode out to the base of the Dolomites and alongside of them on some strade bianche where I needed to fully concentrate in order to stay upright. I discovered that speed really was essential. I did a round trip of about 75km, nothing too demanding as it was all on the flat. On day two I decided to check out the route to Asolo as I really didn’t want to get lost en route and have to call my friend to come rescue me – too embarrassing to contemplate.
Another 75km round trip along country roads with nary a car in sight and plenty of picturesque villages to explore. Wednesday I rode over to Asolo. Again around 75km but it was made more difficult by the heat and a headwind. It took me just three hours and I only really encountered traffic on the last 20km stretch where I was almost cut up by white van man on the exit out of Montebelluno. It was another relatively flat stretch apart from the climb up to the historic town centre.
All this cycling has been negated by delicious evening meals at charming family run Italian restaurants. Packed restaurants where we’d only gotten tables thanks to either reservations or contacts! Ecomonic crisis?
Today, I decided that there was nothing else for it, Dolomites here I come! While I chose my first climb more by luck, it looked as if it was one of the easier ones, even though it seemed to go on for ever. But, of course, at the pace I ride, it does. I saw nary a cyclist today although, in truth, I’ve not seen many all week and a quick search on the internet has only turned up the Octavia Botecchia Velodrome, so named in honour of the first Italian winner of the Tour. Will they rename the Manchester Velodrome after Brad? But no local cycling club. There must be one. I’ve located one for the railway employees but they wear a rather lurid red, yellow and blue kit. Those I’ve seen wearing a red and white kit could just as easily be a team from one of the town’s major manufacturing companies. My search continues, for my next visit……………
View from the Back 