Season 2014

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

And the photos are all bloody excellent too. Great writing, and great pics!

[glaconman]

Winning a lamb. That is a thousand times better than 50 quid worth of shoe vouchers. Even the rabbit is better. That's a true mountain race.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Don't know if anybody's noticed but the UCI World Cycling Championships is in little ol' Ponferrada this week.
West Brom matches aside, this is the first major sporting event I have ever witnessed live. Bradley Wiggins won the individual time trial this afternoon. Sang a bit of "Eton Rifles" as he whistled past me at 40mph, don't think he heard though.

Will try to post a few observations of the week the circus came to town....

[glaconman]

Exiting stuff BB. Live sport can be great. very different from watching on telly. You get different things from it certainly.

Got to hand it to Wiggins. Taking 20 odd seconds out of Martin is no mean feat.

We were really captivated by the Vuelta this year. Probably more so than Le Tour. Minus the Yorkshire stages of course.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Glaconman, it sure was a great battle between Contador and Froome this year. But Contedor blew him away at the end of the penultimate stage (which finished right on the border between Galicia and Bierzo).
Froome will be in the road race on Sunday, more than 250km around a hilly 15 lap circuit. Contador has decided to take a well-earned rest.

West Brom matches aside, this is the first major sporting event I have ever witnessed live.

5 minutes after writing the above I realized that what I’d said wasn’t completely true. I’d seen a couple of stages of the Tour de France when Greg Lemond won in 1989. I’d been to a couple of England games at the old Wembley. I’d seen Beefy Bothem, Viv Richards and big Joel Garner in a couple of one day matches at Somerset. Geoff Boycott even told me to fuck off once. Nice man.

All this feels like a lifetime away though and modern sport is a different place too.

And the UCI World Cycling Championships in Ponferrada are extra special in that they were so unexpected. Five days after the first official competition it still feels unreal when you wake up to carless streets while helicopters buzz overhead as if we were suddenly in the midst of some Hollywood film set.

The main time trial route bisects my daughters walk to school and on the way home last Wednesday we waited patiently to cross the road while Irish veteran Nicholas Roche whirred past and was seconds later a speck of green on the horizon. On the way to the shops you may cross with Team USA out for a stroll or Cadel Evans checking his bike before a training run. Both the American and the Australian teams are in what was until recently Ponferrada’s only 4-star hotel and which is just up the road..

Nobody had expected the audatious bid from El Bierzo to come off and it has indeed been a bumpy ride which may well bankrupt this town in the long run if certain forecasts are to be believed.
What a week though!

Elite women’s race tomorrow.
Elite men on Sunday.
Both are live on BBC2. Worth watching...

[Bierzo Baggie]

Great atmosphere for the elite ladies race today.
Sticking all my photos here .. https://picasaweb.google.com/bierzobaggi...DeCiclismo

Here's one of the race route with Monte Pajariel in the background.

[glaconman]

Great pics BB. Thanks for sharing. Having the honour of being told to F Off by Boycott must rank as your greatest sporting moment surely?

It does all sound very surreal. Having the pro circus just installed in your backyard and suddenly it's part of the school run etc. There's something brilliant about that. Abit like when the Tour came to Yorkshire. Sitting behind the Sky Death Star in traffic; then there was the peleton, one of the greatest sites in sport, just gliding up the valley.

We watched the women's road race last night. Shame Lizzy A couldn't pull it off. Sounds like she wanted a faster race from the off. Watched her racing the men at the Ilkley bike races earlier in the year. My Mrs put a little film together if you're interested: http://vimeo.com/99834399

Watched the documentary Slaying The Badger recently as you mentioned seeing LeMonde in 89. I think the director wanted us to side with LeMonde certainly. But I like Hinault alot. I've got alot of time for them both actually. Must read the book now. Were did you see the race? We went to the NEC for a cycling trade exhibition yesterday. Lots of drooling over carbon bits etc. My son got to meet Jens Voigt. Now there's another man who's very likeable.

Will try and catch up with the men's race tonight.

Enjoy the spectacle. And keep us posted with more updates.

[Bierzo Baggie]

"Surreal" yes, that's the word. There are a few tales, all from the back of the peloton and beyond which I'll do my best to tell.

The women's road race was excellent and I'll certainly be watching Mrs Glaconman's film as soon as I finish writing this...

The 89 Tour has sometimes been labelled as the greatest of all time. I think Stephen Roche's victory a couple of year's before is up there too though.
I'm sure I took a photo of Hinault in the race director's car, hadn't he retired by then? 89 was between Lemond, Fignon and Pedrico Delgado with Fignon losing yellow on the very last day! A 19-year old Bierzo Baggie was at the penultimate stage at Aix Les Bains having ridden out there from the UK. The last few days have brought back memories actually, particularly of the cycling freaks from all over world. Remember playing football with a bunch of Irish lads outside a youth hostel. They were following Sean Kelly who won the points jersy about 5 times (and Roche who had pulled out with a knee injury by then I think). In Ponferrada there were loads of Belgians and Norwegians who very nearly drank the town dry!

Enjoy the men's race. It rained and fewer than half the field finished although that might be normal for the world championships.

[glaconman]

You're right of course. The film I watched was about 85/86. Lemonde talks about 89 and how he knew he was going to overhaul Fignon on the final day because F had made the mistake of congratulating L on his 2nd place on the morning of ITT stage. Very silly.
Impressed at your escapades as a lad cycling out to France for the Tour. We spent 3 weeks this summer going to various bits of TdF France. The Dutch and Belgians were everywhere and bike crazy.
Great to see the Polish kid pull away and win. I think the race does tend to thin out. Last time the whole British team ended up in the bus before the finish. It's 6-7 hours of bike racing which has got to hurt.

[Bierzo Baggie]

We spent 3 weeks this summer going to various bits of TdF France. The Dutch and Belgians were everywhere and bike crazy.

That's brilliant! You went with a camper van didn't you? So many people parked up in Ponferrada with the camper vans, there are still a few of them around. Did you get to ride any of the big mountain passes this time?

And I'm guessing that Jens Voight was the one who broke the hour record at the age of 43. Amazing. I think Bradley Wiggins is going to have a crack at that soon.

Hey, why don't we ask Andy for a cycling thread?

Enjoyed the mini-film by the way, great combination of images, atmosphere and music yet again. Tell Mrs G. she has a fan!

[Charliecat5]

We spent 3 weeks this summer going to various bits of TdF France. The Dutch and Belgians were everywhere and bike crazy.

Hey, why don't we ask Andy for a cycling thread?

A cycling thread eh? Would tails of mountain biking be allowed?

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Tails? Is this a cattish pun?

I approve.

[glaconman]

Hi BB;

Yes, we toured with a campervan for the first time. A Merc Vito hightop that we had converted recently. Good for touring with bikes on the back. Good as a day-van for winter races or rides out further afield.

Managed a few of the big peaks but limited to what my son was able to do. Which was quite alot considering he's only 10. He dropped me on the last hairpin up Alpe d'Huez and even made it up the Ventoux with some considereable style. But other climbs such as Galibier where too long. So we did part way and let my wife finish the job off as I'd done them before in the past. Be interesting to see the balance shift as the years pass.

We did some nice low-level rides in Vacluse and Ardenne and Champagne region. Even managed a short pave section on the Paris-Rubaix route. Mrs wants to go to Pyranees next time. Not sure I fancy the drive though.

Charlie;

I know very little about mountain biking as a sport. Although I know there have been plenty of successful road riders who started on mountain bikes (Cadel Evans being one. I think he retired this weekend at Il Lombardia). I am pretty useless as a mountain biker. I have a 29er these days as it's fast on the level. Mainly used for commuting which only involves a canal toe-path and the odd farm track. I am building up a new mtb for my son from my old frame so it could be time to look further afield. I'm sitting at the well really with the South Pennines and Dales on my doorstep; so all manner of ace trails which get up nice and high. You've got me thinking certainly.

Does EG lurk in the belly of this site? Will he give us a cycling thread? Time will tell.

[Charliecat5]

To continue the tails of the mountain biking cat...

I have hardly used my bike in recent months... but this weekend's run got me thinking about running in the fast approaching dark evenings. I really don't want to run along the streets and pavements but if I stick off road I will need a decent light. Fortunately I have one of these; it usually sits on my handle bars and is as bright as a car headlight. I am not sure that a light that is good enough to pick out downhill tracks at 30 miles per hour is suitable for running at a much more sedate pace.

All of this led to another thought... perhaps the winter evenings are the time to get back on my bike. There is nothing better than thrashing through wind and rain, plummeting down steep hills at breakneck speed in the pitch dark.

The weird thing is, that I am rarely alone out there in those conditions. Cows and sheep aside (which BTW, are usually to be found on blind corners in my experience) there is often another crazy biker out doing a similar thing.