Photo: Lars Baks' Cervelo R3 with a somewhat suspicious crankset. His spare bike had the same crankset. He likes this crankset. FSA logo is a handmade sticker.
Sunday, 4th March 2007
The first trip to the race in 2007. Originally, K-B-K was not on my schedule; Paris-Nice was supposed to be the first race I would go see. Because of the ongoing battle between UCI and 3 grand tour organizers, I was not sure whether Team CSC would participate in Paris-Nice and decided to go see K-B-K.
I bought a GPS navigation system (Garmin Streetpilot C510) back in December 2006.
Since then I have been creating waypoints marking the places that I need as signposts and destinations for travelling to see bicycle races.
As always, I left home very late Saturday evening or more exactly really early Sunday morning around 1:00 am. The destination was a city called Kuurne in Belgium. 550km to go. With a help
of the navigation's system, driving was easy. Via Luxembourg, I arrived at the destination around 6:30 am Sunday morning.
It was still dark but relatively warm. As always, the first thing I had to do was to look for the
"Start" and a proper parking place. As always, if there is still time to kill, I go sleep.
Around 9:30, I got our of my car and walked to the Start. There were already people (spectators) at the Start. Quick Step-Innergetic, Predictor-Lotte and one vendor were there to sell their merchandise. I thought I had seen them somewhere before. I was sure they would be at Paris-Nice prologue next week.
I walked back to my car and took my bike out. As always, the next thing I had to do was to look for the "Team bus parking place". That is where you get the autograph from your favorite riders.
There were designated parking for the teams near the Start.
There I waited for a while. Several teams came but Team CSC did not show up.
It was then I saw Francaise des Jeux bus take an unexpected turn and head for another
unknown parking place. It was past 10:30 am.
"Damn it, there is another parking somewhere!" I chased the FDJ bus on my bike and found it.
It happened to me again, I thought. It happened to me before. I mean, being late to find the Team CSC bus and getting no autograph nor seeing the riders
closely.
It happend in Liège 2006. I could not find the bus and by the time I located it, riders were gone or leaving hastily. It happened to me in Frankfurt am Main 2006.
I located the hidden parking place. There was no Team CSC to find. I talked to a guy wearing Team CSC jersey on a bike. He had not seen them either. "Is there yet another secret parking?"
I decided to return to the Start if Team CSC had arrived there around 11:00. On my way,
I saw Team CSC bus arriving. They were just coming late. I rode beside them;
the MAN bus, Skoda cars and VW van. They honked at me. That meant someone who knew me were driving.
Sunday, 4th March 2007
The first trip to the race in 2007. Originally, K-B-K was not on my schedule; Paris-Nice was supposed to be the first race I would go see. Because of the ongoing battle between UCI and 3 grand tour organizers, I was not sure whether Team CSC would participate in Paris-Nice and decided to go see K-B-K.
I bought a GPS navigation system (Garmin Streetpilot C510) back in December 2006.
Since then I have been creating waypoints marking the places that I need as signposts and destinations for travelling to see bicycle races.
As always, I left home very late Saturday evening or more exactly really early Sunday morning around 1:00 am. The destination was a city called Kuurne in Belgium. 550km to go. With a help
of the navigation's system, driving was easy. Via Luxembourg, I arrived at the destination around 6:30 am Sunday morning.
It was still dark but relatively warm. As always, the first thing I had to do was to look for the
"Start" and a proper parking place. As always, if there is still time to kill, I go sleep.
Around 9:30, I got our of my car and walked to the Start. There were already people (spectators) at the Start. Quick Step-Innergetic, Predictor-Lotte and one vendor were there to sell their merchandise. I thought I had seen them somewhere before. I was sure they would be at Paris-Nice prologue next week.
I walked back to my car and took my bike out. As always, the next thing I had to do was to look for the "Team bus parking place". That is where you get the autograph from your favorite riders.
There were designated parking for the teams near the Start.
There I waited for a while. Several teams came but Team CSC did not show up.
It was then I saw Francaise des Jeux bus take an unexpected turn and head for another
unknown parking place. It was past 10:30 am.
"Damn it, there is another parking somewhere!" I chased the FDJ bus on my bike and found it.
It happened to me again, I thought. It happened to me before. I mean, being late to find the Team CSC bus and getting no autograph nor seeing the riders
closely.
It happend in Liège 2006. I could not find the bus and by the time I located it, riders were gone or leaving hastily. It happened to me in Frankfurt am Main 2006.
I located the hidden parking place. There was no Team CSC to find. I talked to a guy wearing Team CSC jersey on a bike. He had not seen them either. "Is there yet another secret parking?"
I decided to return to the Start if Team CSC had arrived there around 11:00. On my way,
I saw Team CSC bus arriving. They were just coming late. I rode beside them;
the MAN bus, Skoda cars and VW van. They honked at me. That meant someone who knew me were driving.
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