rashbre central: tack attack at tour

Sunday 15 July 2012

tack attack at tour

bike
My bike riding was a bit erratic in June and I've only partly picked up in July, with 118 miles in week 1 and 79 miles last week.

My mileage is nothing compared with the guys in the Tour de France, I'm only doing their 'warm down' type mileages, but I as I've set myself a 40 mile per week target then I don't feel so bad.

Today was a case in point, where I had to decide whether to go for a spin or watch the Tour on telly. I decided to go out, but still caught the end of today's bizarre stage.

I expect it will get called #tackgate or something in the reports because some of the main riders including Cadel Evans received punctures from carpet tacks strewn on the road, which really disrupted the stage.

Interestingly, a gentlemanly code of conduct kicked in. Overall race leader in the yellow jersey, the Brit Bradley Wiggins, got the whole peloton to slow down and wait for the punctured leaders to get their bikes fixed and rejoin at the right point.

Technically, it became impossible for the ones that had been sabotaged to catch up, but sporting Wiggins' decision effectively neutralised the end result where everyone (except the justifiable leaders) finished on the same positions as at the end of the prior stage.

The rest of the hundred and fifty or so riders followed the decision and even made some sprint drama for the crowds at the end of the stage without affecting the outcome.

Yes, and they cycled 191 kilometres through rain and parts of the Pyrenees for this disrupted end result. But I still have a sneaking suspicion that their legs ache less than mine at the end of today.

1 comment:

Pat said...

You are doing exceedingly well.
I half heard about the tacks on the radio and couldn't beieve it but at least it proved there is still some sporting spirit around.