Archive for 2007
Four days of rolling country side in western France with a bit of sun, a lot of wind and some massive crowds out to support their French hero’s.
The Tour du Poitou Charentes doesn’t have the most interesting parcour to make for exciting racing, though the 2007 edition was far from boring with plenty of wind blow across the small exposed country roads shattering the peloton into small groups at many different times of the race.
For me coming into the race with little form due to the long break from racing I knew I was here to keep the boys hydrated and help out along the route where I could, and over the last four days I found myself with more than enough work to do. On day two we were warned that there would be long stretch of cross after about 10km, everyone knew it was coming and sure enough the bunch exploded as the smack went down at the front. I sniveled my way up the bunch and was happy to be in the top 15 to 20 riders with three of my team mates near by. Though it wasn’t to be for long as there was a crash at the turn into the cross wind and our rider highest on GC had fallen, and through radio I hear the director screaming for some of us to come back and help. So I swung left descended through four or five groups thinking to myself now this could be a very long day with still 170km to go, and it sure was as I never actually got far enough back to find our leader as two others did and all three ended up pulling the pin as they were minutes down and the race was on as it swung into the head wind and didn’t ease up.
Though sometimes you have to have a bad day for a good one to follow, and that was how it went for us. With only five guys left in the race we had a hard job on our hands to bring back the break away on day three. In the end I and two team mates chased flat stick for 50km and got the break with in reaching distance for the peloton, and as the race thundered into Chatellerault the home town of our team sprinter Sebastien Chavenal he made the most of the opportunity taking line honors with both hands aloft. It may not have been me who crossed the line first but a team victory is always a great feeling, especially when you know you put in a few yards to help out.
With another stage win on the last day by one of the stagiaires from our team we all went home happy with a successful week. I felt pretty content to have made it though five days of racing and was looking forward to a few days rest before getting stuck into some more training and continuing with some rehab work on my leg which is still not 100%.
Sorry this one report has turned up a little late so the following post will fill you in on the past week.
Cheers Tim
Below: Seb Chavenal takes victory in Chatellerault.
Thirteen years professional and still as keen and motivated as ever to perform. It certainly says a lot about the character of the man who has claimed victory in both Paris Roubaix and Paris Tours, and can still turn up at the smaller French races gee’d up and ready to race.
Fred is a real leader in La Francaise des Jeux, not so much as in what he says at team meetings or the advice he gives the younger rides, but more in the he conducts himself around the races and the way in which he races. Obviously with experience a rider learns how to read a race better and better, and this is where one of Fred’s biggest strength lies. He may be 36 now and sometimes doesn’t quite have the legs to follow at crunch time in the big races but he will put himself in the position more often than not to contest a race and if the legs are there on the day he’ll be ready to do battle.
This year I was lucky enough to get a start in the most prestigious one day classic in cycling, Paris Roubaix. For me the race was all over before it really began but it was the experience of the build up to the race that was invaluable. Doing three days of reconnaissance over the pave of northern France with guys like Fred and Christophe Mengin was where you really learn a thing or two about pro cycling. When pass through the formidable pave section of the ‘Arenberg forest’ and they tell you to go 500m on the right, then 1km on the left, then up the middle to the finish, you know these boys have been around for while and know what they are talking about.
As a father of three young girls, Fred tells me now when he comes away to races its to recover and get some sleep, virtually the complete opposite to a neo pro like myself. Race life is completely second nature for him, where home life requires just as much effort though with a lot more interrupted nights with young ones doing what they do best.
Fred’s dry witty humor often keeps the crew entertained at the dinner table even when the day’s race didn’t go quite as planned. I’m sure he will be missed by many when he hangs up the velo, but for now he’s still an important part of the team and enjoying life as a cyclist.
Sitting in the back of the team car on the auto route heading south to Angouleme, I feel completely depleted of all the fuel I took in over the last 24hrs, the legs have aching feeling like a nasty migraine, but I feel more than satisfied to be have been back in the peloton today after over three months on the side line.
It sure didn’t take long to get back into race mode as usual in most French races they went from the blocks and didn’t let up for a 100k. With all the French pro tour teams, the French continental teams with riders always trying to show there hand, throw in a few Japs and Belgy’s, and you have fare shit fight as you twist an turn on the small country roads of central France.
Chateauroux is a fairly flat area of France, so it was a nice race to get back into the swing of things. Though at 200k long and the peloton spending most of its time at over 50 clicks an hour it was always going to touch up the legs a little. At the 100k mark I swung my musette, or feed bag in English over my shoulder and saw five guys take off up the road, and thought to myself ah magic a little respite before it’s on for the finish. So I took some food on board, a pear tart for that matter mmmmm gota love them, and took a quick nature stop. I wasn’t back in the pack for more than a minute and my radio starts crackling in my ear. I just made out what Yvon the director said, but wasn’t sure so I turned to my team mate to confirm and he nods, “oui Tim tu doit allez roulez” that pretty much means on the front son, and don’t let that gap get to big eh. Dam I was sure I saw a white jersey ride away in that break, but obviously not. Though I wasn’t alone two of my team mates joined me and we got stuck into our work as the wind blew from the wrong direction.
70km later I found myself flapping in the wind on the back of the bunch but wasn’t too worried, my job was done and there was 10k to go. The fellas didn’t quite finish it off today but that’s bike racing, you win a little and you loose a lot.
So a day off tomorrow which will be spent with the feet up, a little ride and a good massage before hooking back into it on Tuesday.
An on final but not surely not least you probably haven’t heard yet, though my flattie and wingman Pete stacked it pretty bad at a race near the Pyrenees yesterday and is in hospital with displaced and fractured vertebrae. He’s ok but could be there for a while and definitely out for quite some time. So flick the man a txt if you can, I’m sure he’d be more than grateful, as there are only so many movies you can watch while hanging out solo in a foreign hospital. Cycling is a tough sport at the best of times, but it sure can knock you down sometimes and normally when you least need it.
Thanks for reading, will let you know how the legs pull up in a day of two. Cheers
Tim
Well summer has surely arrived here in France as the mercury has been rising often well above 30, or as the French call it “La chaleur”, the heat. It’s just after nine pm and as I sit here typing away in our apartment I have the feeling it could be another restless sleep in the sticky air.
Since I last got on here I’ve spent a few hours in the chamy rolling round the country side here in the Tarn Region. For those of you who know the Waikato back home in NZ, the Tarn is quite similar with its rolling green hills and flat stretches which are always good for the old recovery ride. Though the terrain can also get a little more on the mountainous side here too, head out along the Tarn valley and you are inundated with climbs from 5 to 8km long to keep you occupied. It sure has to be one of my favourite rides around here, as you get to roll out on the valley floor following the river and are usually fairly sheltered from the Tarn wind. If you caught the first time trial at the Tour de France this year and saw all the crashes on the descent before they flew along a valley road that is exactly where I’m talking about. Then when you’re feeling ready to get into your work you can turn up a number climbs and make a nice lap out of it.
Lately it’s been a real treat as there has always been someone around to head out and enjoy the scenery with. With Pete being here most of the time with just one day races the last few weeks, a few of the other kiwis from the area have been up to visit us. Then there are the local French pros and of course the old French fellas on the weekend morning rides who are always a reliable start to a long day. Though if you are ever in the area, more company is always welcome for a spin or a quiet red for that matter, they make a pretty good bot around here. We are always keen.
With all this training your sure need some good fuel and France isn’t really a bad place to be when you have a bit of a hunger on. Pictured below is our local Mie Caline Boulangerie, or bakery in English. Owned by a cycling fanatic Jean Pierre and his wife Loraine they always have a fresh loaf of our favourite the “Pave 7 céreal” waiting for us after a long day on the velo ready to be made into some huge sambo’s. If it’s been a big day a slice of “flan” which is pretty much just custard cake, always goes down well too. Though I think Jean Pierre and Loraine are more concerned about our weight than we are so they make sure we’ve done at least 4hrs before they sell us the real good stuff.
After a few solid weeks of solid training I am not far away from my first race back; this weekend I am off up to Chateauroux for the Classic de l’Indre which is followed up a day later by the four day tour Poitou Charentes. It will be an interesting few days as I find my feet in the peloton again but I am really looking forward to getting back to the race atmosphere and catching up with my team after quite a lay off.
Below are some pictures of the last few weeks training and relaxing around Albi.
18 983km and two 12hr flights from home in New Zealand and you can find Albi, France, and for me it is now a home away from home during the nine month season of European professional cycling. Home to 56,000 people and now two skrawny kiwi cyclists from Te Awamutu, as my good mate Pete Latham and I have set ourselves up with a sweet two bedroom apartment right in Centre Ville.
Albi, like most of France is rich with history, and home to the biggest brick cathedral in the world, Le Cathedral de Sainte Cécile. Construction took 200 years starting in 1282, and stands at 80m high. There is also many distinct buildings from the 16th century, where they used hard wood beams like railway sleepers for the structure then filled in the walls with brick and mortar. They look to be still holding strong today so they must have known what they were doing back then.
Though there are only the two of us anglais riders here there a couple of other French professionals as well, Stephane Poulhies who rides for AG2R and Cedric Courtuly who is with Agrutibel. I rode with Stephane for two years as an amateur on Albi Velo Sport, where he was a very solid wing man for me. A true sprinter, he doesn’t like the hills too much, so I would help lead him out in the mass bunch kicks and he’d lend me a hand when it got a little lumpy.
Stephanes family have also been a huge help to me over the past few years, staying with them often in 2005, eating a lot of great French cuisine prepared by Stephs mum Christine but, nearly every week last year, and this year Jean Luc, Stephs Dad has done more airport runs to Toulouse and back for me than I can count. We now however have our on set of wheels I can get there myself.
That is another story, the fellas new ride, a 2006 Renualt Megane. Never been a big fan of French cars but when you have a limited budget there’s not a lot you can do. So far so good, though since buying the green machine officially it belongs to nobody, as while I was back in NZ slumming on the couch, Pete tried to register the car with the local authorities, but once again the ancient French systems got in the way. Pete thought he had all he needed with him to get the job done, registration papers filled out, apartment lease papers, gas bill for proof of residence, and signatures from all parties, but it wasn’t to be, as my name was on the gas bill. The madame made it very clear and blunt by the sounds of it that that is just not possible. So for now we will just have stay on the low down until we can both head in there and let her know how it is.
Like any other town around the world with a strong cycling culture, Albi has its old fellas bunch rides on weekend mornings. They are always a good way to start a long ride and that’s where you’ll find me tomorrow morning. I’ll report again soon and let you know how many of them try to half wheel me along the way haha.
Catchya Tim
Below are a few pics from around town, the first being from our balcony looking down the street to the town square, a quiet beer at the square, and some of Albi’s scenery.
Touching down at Charles de Gaule airport in Paris seems to give me the same feeling every time, a feeling of what lies ahead of me this time round, and like every other time there is a great unknown. Though now I feel quite settled in
It is a great lifestyle, the life of a professional cyclist, though it does require a lot of sacrifices. Leaving family and friends for long periods of time isn’t always easy and this is why having those goals in place is important. For any athlete during phases of rehab like I have and am still going through there will always be days where the motivation sways. Days where your goal of returning to top form or a race win seem so far away and so difficult to achieve, and its these days where must gain strength from and just look at your days or weeks goal, and forget about the end goal as you can change nothing at that present time.
Rehab can often feel like a lonely struggle to an athlete as well, an it is up to the athlete to put in the hard work to get back to their original state, but the support and services available to top athletes these days can really make the job at hand seem much more achievable. I would like to thank all the people who have helped me so far as without you I would not be writing from France so soon. To Graham Bunn, Paul Holloway, Brendan Cameron, Paul Kennedy, Criss Strange and of course Mum and Dad thank you all very much for your time and effort.
As I arrived in town here in Albi so did Le Tour de France, the world’s biggest sporting event and what a traveling circus it is. I met with my team that night as their hotel was just down the road, and the feeling of looking at it from the outside knowing what it feels like to be a rider on the inside was one of respect for these guys who are out there battling on their bikes for 3 weeks in a row. I went to catch up with Thomas Lovkvist (a Swedish rider on FDJ) at his room. He came to the door shirt off as it had been pushing 30 degrees that day and that sight said it all, skinny drawn face, tan lines resembling day and night, ribs protruding under the skin, but still smiling as he enjoyed the comforts of his hotel room and not his bike seat. It hasn’t been the best tour ever for FDJ, but just to finish a Grand Tour is an achievement in itself.
As for my form, I managed to roll out a 4hr ride yesterday which was a good feeling, though I sure felt it this morning as I struggled out of bed. My leg is coping well with the load and I hope to start pushing it up even more in the next few days. I will post my upcoming program soon so you can follow my progress back into the racing.
I am sorry to all of you who have been waiting for an update from me, it has been a busy time but I am back to work now and I will make sure my updates arrive on your screen more often from now on.
Cheers Tim
On the other side of the world a 24hr flight away and six weeks on from taking a tumble, I’m back on the road pedaling around my old stomping ground of the Waikato. The temperature might be a little on the fresh side but I reckon you can’t beat the rolling farm roads here in the Waikato, for some solid training in peace and without having to ride the same route every week.
I have started riding up to an hour and half twice a day at the moment and it seems to be going well so far. I have my knee strapped every day try to take some tension off the patella as the ITB band and the rest of my quad muscle still feels like a rubber band ready to go ‘ping’. So I’ll be leaving the monitoring of that to the physio to keep working his magic, as I quietly begin building the muscle back to its original strength.
As you well know the days are fairly short here in the winter, ‘to be honest I’d forgotten after spending the last 3years jumping from summer to summer’ so the good buggas here at the TA cycling club have a training night every Wednesday under lights at the track for all those working folk who can’t get out before dark. It’s been going for quite a few years now and I can remember back in our school days we used to have ball racing round there until we couldn’t feel our feet or hands anymore. Though last Wednesday night was slightly different, as after 5 weeks of doing virtually nothing I found myself sitting beside my coach, Graham Bunn ‘Bunny’. We were on the front of a group and it was him telling me how long we still have to go in our turn, as we rode along at around 32kph and my heart rate continually climbing, I was glad to hear Bunny say that was enough, before I starting getting into the uncomfortable zone haha. I will say though Bunny is currently leading the D grade winter series here with an unassailable lead, so he’s in some pretty fine form at present.
This weekend will be time to start pushing the rides out a little longer and spend more time in that uncomfortable state as I work on bringing my fitness back to the level needed to compete in the pro peloton. Until next time Tim