Anyway here's a link to the whole story here.
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Bradley Wiggins was in confident mood on the eve of his first Tour de France as a genuine victory hopeful today.
The 8.9-kilometre prologue in Rotterdam which marks the start of the 97th Tour takes place tomorrow, with Wiggins ready for three weeks in which he may yet prove he is the greatest cyclist Britain has ever produced.
"I am streets ahead of where I was this time last year," said Wiggins, who was a surprise fourth in 2009.
1) Thor Hushovd is not the man he was last year - a broken collarbone recently means he might find those cobbles hard work.
3) Last year Hushovd won due to consistency - he played it right tactically and finished in the top five at practically every sprint - this is something that Cavendish will definitely be focussing on this year.
4) Heinrich Haussler is a superb rider and a big cog in the Cervelo team and he won't be there this year - Thor will miss him in the bunch sprints. It's rather unfortunate that it was actually Mark Cavendish who kind of crashed into him.
5) A lot of flat finishes at the start of this year's Tour play right into Cavendish's hands so he can build up a nice little points lead which the others will find difficult to claw back as the sprint finishes go up into the mountains.
6) Tyler Farrar is just not as fast as Mark Cavendish and that's kind of the point in sprinting.
7) Ignore all the dental problems, family problems, personal problems, crashing into Heinrich Haussler and ruling him out of the Tour. He is still fast as a whippet when he wants to be as proven at the Tour de Romandie. That kind of devastating speed is nature not nurture - you can't lose that in a month or two because of a bad toothache.
8) He's got a great team who know exactly what they're doing in the bunch sprints.
9) Did I mention he's fast
8) He's convinced he can win it and really that's half the battle.
Surely Cancellara will win unless he gets a puncture, falls in a canal, gets lost or something drastic breaks on his bike.
Surely Contador will win the GC - what can go wrong in a few thousand miles of racing across France.
I also placed a £2 bet on Bradley WIggins to come first with Lance Armstrong to come in second with Paddy Power. This is just in case the Shlecks, Contador, Menchov, Evans or anyone else are involved in an accident that rules them all out.
To be honest, that little feature of outright positions on Paddy Power's website is great fun, it may never happen but for the time being I can dream of blowing £400 on a couple of carbon water bottle cages.
PS - I hope I haven't developed a gambling problem, I seem to be actively seeking bets as opposed to just doing it for a bit of fun now
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Bradley Wiggins could be wearing the yellow jersey by the end of Saturday's opening day of the 97th Tour de France.
However, the 30-year-old Londoner will gauge his success at the end of the 21st day of racing in Paris, with the podium his target.
Tour de France 2010 - General Classification (Head-to-Head (Overall classification) L. Armstrong/B. Wiggins) Bradley Wiggins (GBR/Sky) £5.00 at 6/5
Tour de France 2010 - General Classification (Head-to-Head (Overall classification) D. Menchov/C. Sastre) Denis Menchov (RUS/Rabobank) £5.00 ay 9/20
Tour de France 2010 - Specials (How many stages will Mark Cavendish (GBR/Columbia) win?) Over 4,5 £5.00 at 17/10
Tour de France 2010 - Specials (How many stages will Fabian Cancellara (SUI/Saxo Bank) win?) Over 0,5 £10.00 at 1/2
Tour de France 2010 - Prologue (Prologue - Winning Margin) 2 seconds or more £15.00 at 4/25
I've gone for Bradley WIggins to beat Lance just because I think Lance is struggling a little - he's not been having the best of times on that bike in the last few months and part of me thinks he'd rather be out jogging with Matthew McConnaughey.
And Cavendish to win the sprints despite him being a bit annoying
And there is no way Cancellara will not walk away with at least one time trail win under his belt.
Poor Carlos has had a bit of bad luck recently and Menchov should be strong as an ox after missing out on the Giro.
So far, only £65 of my own money is at risk but my potential takings look pretty good if everything goes my way - please Bradley Wiggins - make me a rich man.
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See the full article here
As a disclaimer can I say the fact that most of these are bike crashes is more an indictment on society rather than me. It just so happens if you type the word cycling into You Tube the most viewed videos are all bike crashes
]]>The man chased the cyclist, ran him over and the cyclist ended up stuck on the bonnet of the car. The man then drove for a few miles before the cyclist got off the bonnet.
The man was later arrested
So I did the 67 miles in 5 hrs 9 mins including 40 mins total stopped at rest areas.
This time isn't great but it's got to be greater than what the majority of the UK could do it in.
On the plus side because I wimped out of the 100 I'm down on the 100 miles results as doing it in 5 hours which puts me up with the racing whippets.
Since this is a blog about cycling rather than me here's the review:
Good points
1 Food still bit weird but better - apple pies, sausage rolls not so good but bananas, hot cross buns and energy drinks better
2 Good spacing of stops means just as you can't be bothered anymore there's a nice little rest stop.
3 No queues for toilets at venue
4 Easier to park (I thought anyway)
5 Nice atmosphere
6 Massage at end of ride
7 Food at end BUT not free despite £35 entrance fee
8 Good signposting
9 Good marshalling
10 Nice route with hills at the start
11 Good venue to set off from - Crewe Alex ground
12 General atmosphere was great with plenty of people to chat to and stuff.
Bad points
1 The food at rest stops still not great - I just don't think pastry is what you need on a long bike ride.
2 I thought the route wasn't quite as scenic as last year although it's difficult to appreciate the scenery when your eyes are stinging with sweat and you feel like crying so maybe this is irrelevant.
3 Big queues at registration - unavoidable I suppose with 2700 people signing in but still annoying.
4 Big queues to set off - see above.
5 That blooming massive Mow Cop hill, which I have yet to get up.
5 Parking better than last year but still had to park a couple of miles away
6 The constant wind in my face from about mile 30
Things i would do differently next year
1 Get there earlier - by the time I was registered and set off it was 10.30, which meant I felt like I was at the back of the pack for the whole ride - I was but that's not the point.
2 Get fitter
3 Lose weight
4 Do the 100 miler
5 Better gearing for Mow Cop (YES it's gear ratios and not ability I say).
6 Get with a group and stick with them
7 Don't take so many water bottles - four in total - one of which I lost and the other I threw away due to general annoyance.
8 Register the day before
I hate to be negative about something we're actually good at but there you go - I think track cycling is boring.
]]>Although since this is a blog, what's the point in cutting a story short, if I did that then this would simply consist of one sentence.
So, I received an email from Joe Essex about an event involving cycling, walking, canoeing - what fun.
I looked at pictures of people laughing, joking and having a great time.
I emailed back and said 'looks good'.
Time passed and then Joe phoned me asking for a deposit as I was now on the team.
Brilliant so I now I have a month to get in shape to mountain bike for 4 hours, climb a mountain then canoe the length of a large lake.
If I had a month to get out of shape then this would not be a problem - that would be easy.
Anyway must go - I've got to stock up on calories - last thing I need is a calorie shortage come May 1
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