Winter is Back
Just as soon as we thought Summer was here, the three days of 25 degrees Celsius were followed by more than ten days of not even passing 12 degrees Celsius! So there went the nice weather, and it was back to leg warmers and long gloves and thermals!
So I am still having some trouble with the photos here, but I have included all the ones I wanted you to see again, so if you click each title you should be able to see them all! Below all of them, I will do my best to write about them…
Pave in France with me in the middle in white kit
moto leads the bunch over pave
So the weekend just gone, we raced what would probably be the amateur’s Paris-Roubaix. It was up in the Northern region of France, and used a few of the pave sectors from Parix-Roubaix. It was a pretty nice race, and was great to do some mor racing across the cobblestones of France! I love racing across the cobbles! Unfortunately, in at one point in the race I got a bit carried away on them, and thought I would be able to solo across to the breakaway from my group. I guess I learnt a pretty good lesson there, and that is to slow down around the corners on cobbles… It is really quite painful to crash on them! It is quite strange, because usually when you crash, you get a moment to realise it is happening, but before I even knew it, I was on the ground!
It ended up ok though, I later made it back to the lead group, and I wasn’t too badly hurt. It is too bad you just get bruises and bangs on the cobbles, because I don’t have too many wounds to show off to people. However, that is not to say I am looking forward to losing skin, I am quite happy with it all where it is!!!!
me and my new training partner!
In other cool news, I have acquired a new training partner; my beautiful fiancee Keally! We have got ourselves a nice little scooter, or “brommer” as they say here in Belgie! It will be great, as now Keally has something more to do while I am out training, and she can see all the cool things that I see each day, as well as see Belgium for what it really is, rather than just all the cities and places accessable by train.
Our first training session was great, but it was a little bit cold for Keally, who was basically blue after training was finished, from the cold weather! It isn’t so bad when you are pedalling along behind the scooter, with a wind block, and keeping the heart rate up, as opposed to sitting there blocking the wind, doing nothing, in 10 degree weather!
It is a perfect place to pace along the canal, and we can go unobstructed for a couple of hours, no worries!
It is best if you don't skid on Veloflex tubular tires!
So here is what happens when you skid on Veloflex tubular tyres… Not the best thing for them… Two weeks ago, we raced in France, and this is where the problems start with the new “no radios” rule. Team directors need to speak with their riders at times, and because of having no two-way communication without face-to-face contact, the directors will drive their cars into the bunch to talk to their riders. In this case, the road narrowed quickly, and the driver hit a post, flatted his tyres, and took out two of his own riders, as well as about ten others. Somehow I managed to stay upright, but this was the cost; my tubular. I guess that is better than crashing though!
Belgian and Northern French countryside all looks a lot like this
So there is a bit of an update on things. I will start taking more photos, and hopefully this sun that is (supposedly) on the way is going to bring more blogging motivation (hopefully)! I really need to get the photos situation worked out, but am still not sure if it is my computer or the website…
It is nice to see that my Missing Saddle site has become a way of communication for Dad (TinBilly) and Leigh (LSDsnr) too, so that is nice! If anyone else wants to use it for the same purposes, feel free, because the more comments the merrier!
Henry Waterman, of New York, invented the elevator in 1850. He intended it to transport barrels of flour.
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Filed by Tommy Nankervis at May 17th, 2010 under Road Blog, Tommy Nankervis