Tour de Luxembourg Part I

There is a bicycle race called "Tour de Luxembourg" in Luxembourg
just like "Tour de France" in France.

I think I am mildly inclined to go and watch the race despite the fact 
that Team CSC is not there. I want to buy something in Luxembourg.
That flag with a red lion "the official ensign for ships registered in
Luxembourg". I have one, small one (about 20cm x 30cm) given to me 
by one of the Schleck fan club members close to the Schlecks. Now
I want a bigger one.

July 7th is a holiday in both Germany and Luxembourg. Most shops
are closed, I assume. I can still try one of those kiosks at the station.

Anyway, I have not decided yet whether I go or not.

The materials available from the official site, like PDF or JPG files
that describe the parcours, have no "Ravitaillment" in them. I am
sure that riders have lunch during the stage and there is a stretch of
road designated for that purposes. I have to ask someone to tell me
where at the race.

There will be "Tour de Luxembourg Part II" when I decide to go.

Tour de France 2007 Part II

Finally the official site announced the 21 names of the of invited teams. 
I am relieved to find Team CSC there. I am sorry for Unibet for not being
invited. After Patrice Clerc's comment, I don't think we can see Bjarne Riis
at the event. I saw these two men chat at Paris - Nice prologue and took
a picture of them. That was the honeymoon period and now the honey or 
milk has gone sour. 

Now I can concentrate on Tour de France. NOT! I am very much
distracted by Tour de Luxembourg. We have holidays. In Gemany 
June 7th is a holiday. I don't know why but I can accept the fatct.

I looked at the race calendar and realized that Tour de Luxembourg
would be held that particular day. I remember I almost went to
Tour de Luxembourg but did not because I had just bought a set
of ZIPP 404 tubular wheels a week or two weeks before and 
consequently did not have much money left.  ZIPP had a serious 
problem delivering their wheels at that particular time. My order
took over three weeks or so to be delivered. 

Tour de Luxembourg was not on Team CSC's race schedule this year.
So I had forgotten about the race until a few days ago.

I have not decided yet whether I should drive there or not. I have
been to Luxembourg. To be exact, I have driven to Belgium or 
France via Luxembourg. I know the gasoline is a bit cheaper there. 
This fact I came to know by accident. Honestly I just needed to fill 
up there and when the receipt came I was a little amused.  I heard
some people in Germany on the border drive to Luxembourg just 
to get cheaper gas. I am too away from Luxembourg to do that.

Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré Part V

The tentative but final version of my watch plan. 

Team CSC's site has posted the participating riders:
Iñigo Cuesta, Volodymir Gustov, Bobby Julich, Marcus Ljungqvist,
Anders Lund, Nick Sørensen, Chris Anker Sørensen and Christian Vande Velde.

I will try to get the autograph from two riders.

Prologue (Dimanche 10 juin 2007)

Place(s) to watch: Grenoble
What to do: Staying by the Team CSC team bus if the security
is not tootight. Or at the U-turn point in the middle of the
parcours.
Sleep at: Near Grenoble at a camping site

Stage one (Lundi 11 juin 2007)

Place(s) to watch: Start in Grenoble / the elusive feed zone
somewhere near Lozanne? (The Itinéraire de l'étape of Stage 1
does not indicate the ravitaillement)
What to do: Try to get the autograph from Iñigo Cuesta and
Marcus Ljungqvist / Pick up some bidons, sacoche or what is 
found / Take pictures
Sleep at: Near Saint-Paul-en-Jarez at a camping site

Stage two (Mardi 12 juin 2007)

Place(s) to watch: Start in Saint-Paul-en-Jarez, ravitaillement
near Saint-Just-Saint-Rambert and Finish in Saint-Etienne
What to do: ditto
Sleep at: Near Anneyron at a camping site

Stage three (Mercredi 13 juin 2007)

Place(s) to watch: One of the two MG. 4 or somewhere?
I have not decided where to be or what to do. I will check out the
parcours in the morning and then decide. If I find a good place to
be, I will take my car (satellite TV and paiting kit) and stay there.
What to do: not yet sure
Sleep at: Somewhere near the top of le Mont Ventoux.

Stage four (Jeudi 14 juin 2007)

Place(s) to watch: le Mont Ventoux
What to do: Watch the satellite TV and paint the road / (if possible) 
Climb the mountain from Bedoin in the morning.
Sleep at: Near Nyons at a camping site

Stage five (Vendredi 15 juin 2007)

Place(s) to watch: Start in Nyons
What to do: Bug the Team CSC riders at the start
( and then dirve to Col du Télégraphe)
Sleep at: somewhere near the top of Col du Télégraphe

Stage six (Samedi 16 juin 2007)

Place(s) to watch: Col du Télégraphe
What to do: Watch the satellite TV and paint the road / (if possible) 
Climb the moutain in the morning.
Sleep at: Valloire at a camping site?

Stage seven (Dimanche 17 juin 2007)

Place(s) to watch: Annecy? or Col de la Forclaz
What to do: Support Team CSC riders
When someone from Team CSC is after the general classification, 
I will definitely try to see the finish. Otherwise, I mightbe at the top
of Col de la Forclaz (category 1 climb 18.5km before the finish).

Drive home (over 550km to go via Switzerland) 

There are a lot of things I have to try and see as preparations for TdF.
I have to see if I have enough equipment for a long term camping trip.
I want to have a notebook computer to store the digital photo files from
the camera and to update my blog whenever possible at camping sites
with internet access or WLAN cafes.

Tour de France 2007 Part I

The official site has finally posted the time schedules for all the stages. 
These schedules are very important since I have to know exactly where
they run and eat. I am planning to watch those flat stages in UK, Belgium 
and France at the start, ravitaillement and finish. Moving quickly to the
watch points needs a good planning. With those time schedules, I can
plan my move using Garmin MapSource. 

I think those official handbooks are coming to the local book stores, too.

I have those official handbooks of 2005 (German version) and 2006 
(German and French versions).

They are a bit different. I mean the German and French versions. They
(publishers who licnese the right to make the official handbooks) have
the same material from A.S.O (I presume) but they have the right to
pad or add local and their own material in that handbook.

For example, the German one has articles on German riders (Jan Ulrich,
of course) and the French one has more on French riders. Ads are
different for obvious reasons.

Anyway, this year, 2007, I will buy three versions at least. UK, German and
French handbooks. Do they accept Euro in UK? Do I have to change Euro
into British Pounds while I am in UK?

One months and a couple of weeks to go till TdF kicks off.

Race watch schedule for 2007 update

I have been to the following races:
4th March: Kuurne - Brussel - Kuurne
11th March: Paris - Nice (Prologue)

1st April: Critérium International
8th April: Tour des Flandres
9th April: Rund um Köln
15th April: Paris-Roubaix
22nd April: Amstel Gold Race
29th April: Liège - Bastogne - Liège

1st May: Rund um den Henninger Turm (Frankfurt am Main)

(no Team CSC participating races)
17th & 18th May: Rheinland-Pfalz-Rad-Rundfahrt (Stage 2&3)


I will go watch the following races:
3rd June: Bayern Rundfahrt
10th-17th June: Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
24th June: Team Time Trial (Eindhoven)

1st July: National Championship (Germany)
7th-29th July: Tour de France (all stages)

5th August: Sparkassen Giro Bochum
12th August : Deutschland Tour (Stage 3)
19th August: Vattenfall Cyclassics (Hamburg)
26th August: Eneco Tour

23rd September: Drei Länder Tour (Germany)
27th September: World Championship, TT (Stuttgart)
30th September: World Championship (Stuttgart)

7th October: Züri Metzgete (Zurich) The race has been cancelled!!

Update on the autograph collection:
Lars Bak
Kasper Klostergaard
Martin Pedersen
Luke Roberts
Andy Schleck
Alexandr Kolobnev
Christian Vande Velde
David Zabriske
Frank Schleck
Bobby Julich
Chris Anker Sørensen
Juan José Haedo
Jens Voigt
Anders Lund
Volodymir Gustov
Kurt-Asle Arvesen
Mathew Goss
Michael Blaudzun
Allan Johansen
Niki Sørensen
Karsten Kroon
and
Bjarne Riis

Total 21 riders and 1 owner of the team

On my bike I got one from
Gérard Vroomen (Co-founder of Cervélo)

Bayern Rundfahrt Part I

Bayern Rundfahrt is a stage race held in Bayern Germany. I have never
been to this particular race before. This year, however, I will watch the
last stage, 5th, on Sunday 3rd June.

This race was not on my initial race watch schedule because I did not 
know if the sunday stage would be held somewhere near my town.
More importantly, I wanted to save my money so that I had enough
money for Tour de France.

When the official site announced the stage details, I found that the
the last stage was to take place in an area closer to me. When Team
CSC's participating riders were announced and I knew Carlos Sastre
was on the team, I firmly decided to go watch the race.

The fifth stage starts in a city called Rothenburg and ends in Fürth
near Nürnberg. No problem. I can drive to Fürth early Sunday
morning. Garmin MapSource indicates that I have to take "B (not
highway but normal road) " insted of "A (highway)" almost
all the way.

It will be the first time to see Carlos this season. He takes part in only
selective races since he is concentrating on TdF as everybody knows.

Some of the Bayern Rundfahrt members are TdF members, I think.
Frank Schleck and Jens Voigt are definately on the TdF team. How 
about Karsten Kroon, Stuart O'Grady or Nicki Sørensen?

Who are going to be on Team CSC TdF team, anyway? Only 9 riders
can ride at TdF and there are more than 9 riders who want to be there.

Jens Voigt is participating in this race as he has won this race so many
times and using this race as his preparation for TdF. He noted he
would also participate in Tour de Suisse. That means he would not 
be in Eindhoven at Team Time Trial this year.

It has been reported on cyclingnews.com that Rabobank wants 
Karsten Kroon (back) as its Dutch star rider Michael Bogerd is
retiring at the end of 2007. It needs a replacement Dutch rider.

After reading this article, I went to LBL and kept a close eye on him.
And this happened. Before the real start of the race, riders were 
swapping gossips.



The two Dutch were side by side seemingly talking to each other
about something like "I'm out and you're in"?

Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré Part IV

The official site of Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré finally put up the
time table (Itinéraire de l'étape). I don't understand the reason the
time table of the prologue states its parcours is only 4.2km and it
starts in Grenoble and finishes in Grenoble. Others tell it is 7km
and it starts in Pont-de-Claix and ends in Grenoble. I have to wait
for a little while to see what is correct.

Another thing I noticed is there is no ravitaillement (feed zone) in
Stage 1, which has 219km of parcours. How do they manage to keep
nourished?

I also realized that the race would pass Col du Télégraphe in Stage 6
and Stage 7. But when they pass Col du Télégraphe the second time,
(as the start, Valloire, is already over 1,400m above see level) the
climb is only a slight bump in the parcours.

I thought that only Stage 7 had Col du Télégraphe. I have to make a
slight adjustment in the plan of Stage 6 watch. I will go watch the race
on top of Col du Télégraphe and pass Col de la Croix de Fer.

Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré Part III

Planning, planning. Time is on my side. The official site has published
Parcours général and profils of the mountain stages but not itinéraires,
which is I think, the time table. This time table is very important because
it contains the crucial information when you want to know the detailed 
course. Of course, anybody who has been to a bicycle race knows this.

It is going to be a week of race watch trip. It going to be a test to see
if I have done enough preparation for a long race watch trip before TdF.

It is over 650km of overnight drive to Grenoble. I hope that the prologue
begins late in the afternoon. I wish I could drive on Saturday but I
cannot.

Prologue: Pont-de-Claix / Grenoble
Watch plan
Staying at Pont-de-Claix. 

Actually I am not sure if I can make it to Grenoble in time. After the
race, I will check in a camp site near Grenoble for a good night sleep.

"Camping France" by Michelin helped me find a candidate.

Étape 1: Grenoble - Roanne
Watch plan
Watching the start in Grenoble and moving to the feed zone after 
the start?

I expect the feed zone is somewhat close to the next stage's start
(Saint-Paul-en-Jarez), so driving to the feed zone won't do any harm.

I will check in a camp site near Saint-Paul-en-Jarez.

Étape 2: Staint-Paul-en-Jarez - Saint-Etienne
Watch plan
Watch the race at start and finish seems to be easy since there is
a connection between the two cities by way of the highway A47.

I am not sure if I can make it to the feed zone by way of A74.  I will
have to wait for the time table to be made available by the organizer
if it should be made available at all.

When the race is over, I will drive to a camp site near Anneyron.
There are two suitable sites that I have found in "ECC" (Europa
Camping Caravaning).

Étape 3: Anneyron
Watch plan
C.L.M (Contra-la-montre, time trial) has two category 4 climbs.
What to do?

After the race is over, I will drive to le Mont Ventoux to stay the night
there. Is staying at the top of le Mont Ventoux allowed? It is possible to
camp out in the area?

Étape 4: Hauterives - Le Mont Ventoux
Watch plan
Waiting at the top of le Mont Ventoux. 

It would be nice if I could park my car near the top because I can
watch TV with my mobile satellite system in my car while waiting
for the race to come.

There is another thing in my mind. Namely, doing the Mont Ventoux.
From Bédoin, it is said that a well trained amateur cyclist could reach
the top in two to three hours.

After the finish, I will move to Nyons. There are camp sites near the town.

Étape 5: Nyons - Digne-les-Bains
Watch plan
Watching the start in Nyons?

Since making it to the next watch point (Valloire or Col de la Croix de Fer)
is important, I will watch the race in Nyons and move on. So I expect to 
be at Col de la Croix de Fer sometime in the evening. I hope I can find 
a place to stay there.

Étape 6: Gap - Valloire
Watch plan
Waiting at Col de la Croix de Fer.
After the race, I will try to find a place to stay in Valloire.

Étape 7: Valloire - Annecy
Watch plan
Waiting at Col du Terégraphe. I will try to reach Annecy before the race finish 
by way of the highway (A41).

I will climb up to Col du Terégraphe while parking the car down at village of
Saint-Martin-D' Arc.
After the race goes, the traffic and the pedestrians make a terrible
congestion. So moving is much quicker by bicycle down to the village
and following the race is much less pain.

This is the plan so far.

Rund um Köln Part II

I arrived at the feedzone well ahead of the ETA. I checked the TV
stations available in that area to find out that the live coverage of
the race was not there. I checked out the area to decide where to
stand when the race passed.

I got a bidon from Wiesenhof-Felt. I did not get any good pictures as
usual. I do not concentrate on taking pictures but try to see what is
before me. I displayed the national flags of all Team CSC riders 
participating in the race. Did they notice my efforts?

While I waited for the race to arrive, some people (many people)
passed by me and some of them commented on my decoration.
One particular comment is worth mentioning. A boy, 5 or 6? years
old on a bike passed with his father walking ahead of him. They
were on the other side of the road, where the sidewalk for
bicycles and pedestrians was. The boy said, "Neuseeland, Ukraine,
Norwegen, ...". He missed the Australian flag for New Zealand flag but
he correctly identified the Ukrainian flag, just in passing. Impressive. 

I drove to Köln and arrived about an hour before the ETA. There
were a lot of activities going on around the Finish area. People were
visiting the Zoo, enjoying the walk along the Rhine and coming to see
the bicycle race. I did not find a parking lot and I was much too impatient 
to look for one any further. So, in the end, I parked on a grassy lot 
under the overpass leading to the bride over the Rhine "among
many other cars".

I took out my bike and went to a point about 200 - 300 meters after
the Goal and watched the race. I thought that if and when one of Team
CSC riders won the race, they would gather here and congratulate 
the winner.

They did. Juan Jose Haedo won the race. And I was right, too.

I came home and later watched the race that I recorded.
Marcel Wüst, ARD (Germany's biggest TV station?) bicycle race
commentator, said that among other German sprinters, JJ Haedo
was the one who had to be kept a close eye on if the race was to 
be decided with a mass sprint since he (JJ) had shown his ability
during the Tour of California.

After the race, I went to see the Team CSC riders. I waited until
JJ came back. By the time he came, almost all teams had been gone
and most of his teammates were gone. They had the next races, like
Tour of Georgia and so on. I was one of the last fans to leave Köln.

I saw JJ and DS Gallopin drive off. I thought it was a perfect day.

Well, up to this point, everything looked rosy. I returned to my car 
to find a piece of paper conspicuously placed between the windshield 
and the wiper blade. It was a calling card from the city of Köln with
a friendly greeting complete with an indirect suggestion that I would 
have to pay unspecified fine for the parking violation unless I intended 
to contend against their condemnation.  I also found the same pieces
of paper on the ground and also on the same place of many
cars around me. I am sorry but I unknowingly and unintendedly
commited a parking violation, for which I paid (15 Euro) to fulfill
my obligations as a leagal alien in Germany.

I drove home rather hurriedly to attend to a Team CSC fan club
event. Karsten Kroon was to join us in a chat.