Saturday, May 26, 2012

Watch the Giro

There are three Grand Tours in cycling:

The Tour of France (Tour de France)
The Tour of Italy (Giro d'Italia)
The Tour of Spain (Vuelta a Espana)

They are basically the exact same aside from timing and location - three weeks, two rest days, over 3000 kilometers, etc. North Americans have only heard of the French version for some reason, but they all count.

In any case - Ryder Hesjedal (from Victoria, BC) is currently in 2nd place of the Giro.  The second last stage, and the last normal mass start stage, was today.  Final time trial is tomorrow.

You should watch it.  If he wins, this is unprecedented.  

This is Ryder when we were at the Tour de Victoria last year.

2011.05.28 TdV (20)

It may look like he's racing little kids here, but I promise - he let them win on purpose.

If you are TV-less like us, you can stream it here:


(The second "live video" link in the Eurosport category worked for us)

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Tuesday Night TT

We're a bit behind on the blog, I know. The results from our race the weekend before last were actually only released today, so we should fill in the gaps soon.

I am sitting on the side of the road about 12 kilometers from home right now. It is quarter after eight at night, and I have not eaten dinner. Can you guess why?

Hint: I did not remember to bring a flat kit with me tonight.

And then I rode over a great big pile of glass.

Luckily, there was someone around who had a spare tube, pump and levers. So I fixed myself up and started home. I made it about 400 metres and then flatted again. So Caroline is on the way home to get the car.

In other news, we both raced our first Tuesday night Time Trial which is run by the local bike shop. It was a... humbling... experience. I didn't come dead last, but back of the pack to be sure.

On the upside though, I flatted about 200 metres before the end, so I rode it in anyways. And now I can say that I "pulled a Lance".