There's no place like home!

'Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore'. No wait This is Kansas. The local joke is , you can watch your dog run away for 3 days. I think it is more like a week. Nice and flat, but great sunrises and sunsets!

K-os in Guelph - The Last Date on his Tour

K-os played a great hip hop set at , suprisingly enough, the University of Guelph. This was the last stop on his tour and his last concert for quite a few years. He seemed to be pretty happy about this and enjoyed interacting alot with the crowd. He got inspired by the young crowd and even did a little body surfing . Good show in an intimate venue!

U2 - Live in T.O.

Here are some pics I took while getting trampled in the crowd. The band does still rock! 2 encores and 4 shows in T.O. say alot. Rock on!

Coldplay in Action

While I am a huge fan of the band, I normally wouldn't feel the need to put up a posting after going to a show. After seeing Coldplay at the ACC I was so "blown away" by the performance that I figured I should put up a short note about how awesome it was. The band performed a variety of all of their songs and even started the show with 'Yellow'. It was great to have huge yellow balloons bouncing off the crowd while the band wowed the sold out crowd. In fact the band continued to blow away the fans with their entire set. Their set went from intimate accoustic stuff like 'the Scientist' to full blown rocking songs off of their new album X&Y and they did them flawlessly. They also make great use of the lighting and videoscreen behind them to create a great feel to the show. These guys are going to be the next challenger to U2 for the 'best band in the world' title.

Are We There Yet?

July 24th, 2005 By the time the Tour hits Paris, I think everyone is asking this question to themselves, ’Are we there yet?’ As a journalist, I am exhausted. I can’t imagine racing every day for hours and hours and getting up and doing it again. I can understand when they say for every Tour that a racer does, it takes years off of their life. I look at the racers and you can see that they are tired and spent. Some have no drive left and are just hoping to make it to the Champs in one piece. You could see how exhausted Chicken was yesterday in the Time Trial. He couldn’t even stay on his bike! The finish on the Champs-Elyees is something to behold and every riders dream to race in. The race is done for the most part, so the riders get to actually enjoy this stage for what it is, the finish to an amazing race. Look for the sprinters to put on a show today, as the green jersey is the only one left in contention. Also look for someone to take a flyer off the front once the race hits the Champs-Elyees with the hopes of taking a stage win. The racing won’t actually start till the group hits the Champs as Lance will keep the race together and ride as a group. He doesn’t want to have to chase anyone on the last day. All he wants to do is sip champagne on the ride in and look good for the cameras. In the press conference yesterday, Lance could only talk about retirement, lounging, and going on tour with Sheryl as her roadie. Sounds like a good plan to me. Hey Lance, if you are looking for a beer drinking buddy, give me a call. I’ll be right over! Actually Lance did talk about spending the next week on a beach in the South of France with a small group of people. Let’s hope he works on trying to get rid of his cyclist’s tan while he is there. Paris is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, which makes it a fantastic place to finish the race off as well. Every direction provides a great backdrop for a photo as well. When the race comes into the Champs they do 8 laps of the circuit before the race finishes. After that the teams all do a victory lap to celebrate and to do a little showboating. It is always funny to see road riders pulling wheelies and showboating for the crowd. I always look forward to the press centre in Paris. It will be the only time that I can actually be in the Meridien-Etoile hotel (a 5 Star Hotel in Paris) and not get kicked out. I better enjoy it while I can! Vivre France! Notes: Lance was on a newly painted bike today along with the last set of icons. Nothing too exciting. He did get a new helmet today as well. Yellow. Go figure. Today’s icons stand for the #’s 1-7. Celebrity sitings today: Michael Keaton, Price Albert of Monaco, and I don’t even count Sheryl Crow any more. Chicken had a polka dot bike. No surprise there. There is a big rider’s dinner tonight, in the same hotel as the press centre. It is hard to recognize some of these guys out of their helmets and in regular clothes. Looks like a good time. We may have to go and crash it.That’s all from the 2005 Tour de France.

The Time Trial

July 23, 05 The Individual Time Trial is the one race, where the riders spend the entire race by themselves, racing against the clock. It is the race where the racer can either prove themselves or ruin their race. Today we saw both cases. Both Lance and Ulrich had exceptional races while Chicken’s day didn’t work out so well. I have never seen a racer fall apart so completely as Rasmussen did today. He crashed twice, got multiple bike changes and numerous wheel changes. The guy is totally spent! He could barely make it up onto the podium today let alone hold off Ulrich’s amazing time. Ulrich used the ITT to make it up onto the podium in Paris. Good for him! I want to highlight some of the tech that makes the Time Trial critical and so important. Most riders have a separate bike set up specifically for the Time Trial. This is a bike that provides greater aerodynamic advantages than the regular road bike. It usually has tubing that helps to cut through the wind as well as Aero Bars and disk wheels. All of these components come together to produce a bike that helps get the rider in an aerodynamic position as well as helping them go faster. To understand what this does, Lance had over a 42 km/hr average speed for the 55kms. This is an unbelievable speed to maintain over the distance. Here are a few notable Aero items that I saw today. While CSC guys were riding the usual Canadian Cervello P3 bikes, Bobby Julich was riding those crazy elliptical (can you say Biopace, but not really) chain rings on his rig. Seems to work for him. I’ll pass as I lived through the Biopace era. Scott is using the worst front wheel that I have even seen. You have to see the pic to understand the idea. I see no purpose. As far as the bikes go , you are best to check out the pics. Notes: John Kerry showed up today. Yea, I know, so what. More exciting, was the arrival of Lance’s Mother and Children. Lance seemed to enjoy the fact that they were here. Sheryl seems to be a good with the kids. It was funny to see the kids playing like they were hanging out at their Dad’s work. Well they were hanging out at Dad’s work. Expect to see Lance at a Cyclo Cross race or Mountain bike race sometime in the next few years. He eluded to the fact that he would want to do something and he may try an Ironman, or Marathon, or the usual Mtb race that he does. I can’t wait to line up next to him somewhere! We are on to Paris tomorrow. The racers take a VTT , high speed train, while there will be a lot of racing to the start for us. I plan on driving the course tomorrow into the Champs , so I will get a good perspective on the feeling of the final day of the race.Till tomorrow!

Team Bus

July 22, 2005 The Tour riders rely on their bus to be their home way from home. It serves several functions for the riders, with the main one being a way to get around. To understand what functions the bus serves, you must first understand what is inside of the bus. When you actually look at the inside of the team bus, they have a pretty simple layout. Most of them have a few rows of seats in the front and then they have an area behind with a section of sideways seats that resemble couches. Behind that area is a small kitchen with a fridge for cold drinks and a coffee maker. Behind the kitchen area/back exit is a shower, a change area and washrooms. The bus does serve as a way to get riders to and from the race, and from stage to stage but it is also a place to get away from the crush of the crowd outside. The bus is a private place where the riders can hang out and not be disturbed. When they leave the bus they are hounded by the public seeking a photo or an autograph. After the race the bus is a place to grab a quick shower, a cold drink, and then get shuttled back to the hotel. One point of interest. If you are walking around the busses after the race, don’t play in the puddles of water they may be flowing around the bus. At best, it is shower water, at worst, the flushings! The team cars do work in tandem with the bus. The Team cars haul all of the bikes to and from the race and serve as feed stations and mechanical support during the race. The team cars are set up pretty nicely. They have a TV screen on the dash that shows the race live, and they have a race radio that gets all of the reports from the Tour radio. The team cars also have the race directors in them, and these are the guys who are giving the instructions to the racers via the small radio earpieces that they all wear. Quite a production when you look at it. Most teams will have 1 –2 busses, 4-6 team cars and a couple of vans as well as a cube van that the mechanics work out of. No wonder the teams have $10+ million budgets. Tomorrow is the ITT. Should be a good day for Lance to prove he still has it. Notes: - Today’s icons for Lance mean: 1 Stage Luz Ardidenne 2 Bad luck 3 Bad Mojo/ scary 4 Beloki’s Crash and Lance off roading it 5 5 Tour wins 6 In Da Club of 5 timers -Chicken has taken the Polka Dot jersey for sure. He got to wear it on the podium today. -We are in the land of Lentils. Mmm Lentils. We were given a tin of Lentils when we came into the press room today. What am I going to do with these? -Floyd is a big jokester. Today he commented to Julich about how ‘ the skinniest guy in the peleton won today’s stage. He is always joking with the other American riders. - Lance’s security crew looks like they are on high alert now. They even need to escort him to the start line now! I guess that is all for today. Tomorrow will be a long day of waiting for all of the riders to go by. I find the ITT stages the toughest to cover as I get to sit in one spot and take the riders pictures as they go by. Lots of waiting!Till tomorrow.

Start it Up

July 21, 2005 I was standing at the start of the race today and I realized that there is a lot of things that happen both around the start and finish that most people would have no idea about. First off, the team busses and vehicles all have a set area to park in. This is close to the start, usually behind the start area. For the most part, this is a secure area, meaning you have to have a pass to be in that area. Sometimes it can be very strict while others can have huge crowds of fans around the busses. People like to hang out around the busses since all of the riders are in the bus waiting to come out. If you are lucky enough, when you are waiting outside the Disco bus, Lance may even grace you with an autograph. This also works for the other busses too, but Discovery is the hardest to get near. Some teams will actually ride to the start area as a warm up from a short distance out, while other riders will warm up at the hotel or not at all. For the most part, the stages start out relatively easy, giving the riders time to warm up on course. Before the riders start, they have to go to sign in. This is exactly what you figure it would be. The riders go up on stage and sign in before every stage. If they don’t sign in, they get fined! There is even a bell rung to remind riders to sign in. It is also a signal that the race will start in 10 minutes or so. The actual start is nothing too exciting. All of the riders are corralled into the barriered off area and wait for the start. There is a lot of joking around and strategising that happens in this are. The jersey wearers are brought up to the front of the start line for a few pictures, and then they are given the signal to start. Not a huge deal if you roll out from the back as it really does go slow until they are at least out of town, where the real rolling start takes place. I have even seen riders miss the start and go blasting out a minute after the rest of the riders have gone. Maybe those riders were stuck in the salle de bain! At the finish the riders come across the line and are immediately surrounded by a Media Frenzy. Lance is taken straight back stage away from everyone. Lance actually has 2 bodyguards (Serge and Irwin) who make sure no one messes with him. The rest of the riders are pretty much left to fend for themselves. At the finish line most riders will take a can of Soda (Coke) or water, and roll back to the team busses for a shower and a trip back to the hotel. The Podium winners have no chance to cool down and are put up on the podium, mere minutes after finishing. The podium itself is a portable, inflatable stage that moves every night with the race. There is actually nothing but a small set of stairs behind the actual podium. Nothing-glamorous here! The winners get interviewed for the next 20 minutes and then they are free to leave. Lance has his crew waiting for him to wisk him and Sheryl to an awaiting car. A Few Notes for those of you watching from home: -The OLN studio is a potable structure on the back of a truck that lifts up to give them a secluded place to do their on-air broadcast. Pretty cool! And Yes, Bob Roll does have pants on when he does the broadcast. -Today’s Icons on Lance’s bike mean: Star of USA Blue Train- Postal train of riders King of USA –as he won the Tour 4 x 4 times champ. Eye with heart – referring to a town or stage win Lance is #1 Yesterday’s icons were about Lance’s kids! Go figure. -I saw the Ubber fan the Devil today. He brings a giant bicycle to some part of every stage of the Tour. He is also sponsored by Luk clutches. Nice deal! He seems to have a nemesis out there, as there is an American fan dressed as the Angel. Lets see if we get a battle between the two of them. -I saw Steve Bauer here today at the Postal Team bus! His crew seemed to be having a great time. One of these years I will have to try seeing to Tour this way. I am off for another day.Till tomorrow.

The Tech of the Tour

The Tour de France is the best place in the world to see the latest and greatest of road bikes. All of the bike companies want the Tour riders on either their newest model or even prototype stuff. It can create a lot of hype for the bike and component companies to have their products ridden in the Tour. The European countryside is full of cycling fans that want to be just like their favourite rider and will get the full team kit and bike so they can emulate their favourites. So far at the Tour I have seen a lot of the Team’s bikes, but there are always new things that I am seeing every day. On some teams there are differences among the riders as some have different preferences or are trying prototype parts. The following is what I have seen so far in the Tour and I am sure I will come across lots more in the days to come. - Most teams are all riding carbon fibre bikes, although there seems to be some option in some teams. Some teams are riding both full carbon bikes as well as some riders riding aluminium/carbon bikes depending on rider preference. There are a lot of Monocoque frames being used. Orbea, Giant, and BH are all using this type of frame. Basically this is a frame made of carbon that is made in one piece. An even tougher variation on this premise is the BH frames are that they have no seat post in them. The seat tube comes up to the correct seat height for the rider. That’s gotta be a tough frame to make. Look, Scott, Pinarello, Colnago, and Trek all use a lug or modified lug system. This is where carbon tubes are joined together at lugs to form the frame. Essentially the frame is glued together with adhesives that are meant to hold the Space Shuttle together! The coolest carbon frame (in my opinion) is Floyd Landis’ BMC. It is made using Easton Nanotec Technology. This is made using micro carbon fibres and makes for a very interesting frame shape. - Mavic has a special edition of the Mavic Ksyrium Wheels called the ES. It has a carbon shell on the hub with Red flanges, and a red spoke. The rims are also different from front to rear as well. The front is designed for improved steering and the rear is designed for better power transfer. - Lotto is experimenting with a special oval chain ring. This is the same one that Bobby Julich is using as well. It is designed to provide more power to the drive train. Isn’t that what they said about Biopace? - If you see any riders with a seat bag, it is not to carry a spare tube. These riders are using the SRM power monitoring system and need the seat bag to carry the battery/transmitter system. This system measures the Power or watts a rider puts out when they are racing. This is a useful measure to see how hard a racer is working when compared to their heart rate. More racers are using this or other similar systems to help them train and race more efficiently. - Bouygues Telecom riders are using a Stronglight crank that is made of carbon but it is hollow in the middle. Pretty cool looking. - Shimano has 2 different sets of Carbon rims. Both are Tubulars, and one is a deep section rim and one is a shallow section rim. Very nice looking. - Fulcrum sponsors one of the teams in the tour with wheels but unfortunately all they did was to re-label some Campy wheels as their own. They aren’t the first company to do this kind of thing. Some companies will label or repaint other components as their own to look good. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do, I guess. - It looks like to me that you run Campagnolo componentry, that you HAVE to run a chain keeper to keep the chain from falling off the inside of the small ring. Every team that was running Campy had these on their bikes if they would fit on their frames. - Polar looks like they are making bike computers now. I don’t know much about it but the rider also had a heart rate monitor on his bike as well. That doesn’t make sense to me but? - Lance has a new set on icons on his bike today, but I still don’t know what it exactly means. - Lance was also wearing a new looking Giro Atmos helmet. It is flat black with the blue flames and white Star of Texas graphics on it. That is about all I have seen for now, but there is so much going on at any given moment that it is easy to miss stuff. More to come as I see it.Till tomorrow.

Crazy Caravan

Oh to be a cycling fan at the Tour. To find a good place to watch the race, you have to be there hours ahead of the race. If you plan to be in the Mountains, you have to make sure you drive up the night before, otherwise they may close down the mountain to vehicle traffic. The mountain closure can happen the night before or the morning before the race depending what the police feel is appropriate. Once the mountain is closed, the only way to get up to watch the race is by bicycle or foot. Either way is not an easy task. If you plan to get a place to stand on the barriers near the finish, count on at least 4 hours of staking out your place to see the finish. The one bright light of your day will be the passing of the Caravan. The Caravan is a parade of vehicles /floats that precede the race. These vehicles represent Tour Sponsors or companies that want to promote their products. Millions of people all around France and the World see these floats, so this is an exceptional opportunity to promote a product. The best part about the Caravan is that they throw petit cadeaux to the crowd as they drive past. The crowd goes crazy for this stuff! It does help to get the crowd excited for the race and it gives everyone a chance to come away with a souvenir. Some of the interesting things include: the green cardboard PMU hands, small dried sausage, little yellow umbrella hats, key chains, phone credits, yellow Credit Lyonnais hats, inflatable noise makers, candies, and a multitude of other things. Apparently they throw out 11 million objects over the Tour! That’s a lot of stuff! The view as these strange vehicles make their way around France is quite a site! Enjoy the pics! Race Notes: I was at the start line today as Levi Leipheimer was joking around with fellow Americans Chris Horner and Bobby Julich. Levi flipped his bike up to show them the wrench that he had taped to the underside of his downtube! Apparently the Specialized bikes are too light, and they lost the weights that were on the bike , so this was how the team was adding the difference! Nice! The other guys were laughing because the Tour has not checked weights since the start. Bobby Julich is riding the Soloist version of the Cervello. Not sure why he would want to ride that in the mountains, but I will try to find out why. Lance has a new set of Icons on his bike today, but no one had an answer as to what they meant. All I know right now is if you check out http://www.nikecycling.com/ that they may have the answers there. I was told that it was the 2000 tour and the 10th stage with bad weather and …. I have noticed that there are tons of Bike Tour companies swarming around the Tour. Actually it is pretty hard not to notice them , as there are so many of them, and they take over wherever they go. There are all kinds of companies from all over the world here. I would have to say from what I have seen, that if you speak English and want to do some riding as well, there are 2 companies that look good. Trek Travel seems to do a really good job, but it looks pretty high end. Lots of expensive bikes and access to the Discos too! Steve Bauer bike tours looks pretty good too. Steve also has a good relation with Discovery and they stay in some great places too. Both are worth checking out! Lance seems to be pretty confident and relaxed now that the mountains are over. He was a lot less reserved today than usual. Word is he will have a new bike for Paris this year. We have to wait to see what it will look like. There doesn’t seem to be anyone selling Livestrong Bracelets here this year. I was told to go to the Website to get any. Maybe they have sold more than they needed to?!? http://www.laf.org/ or http://www.wearyellow.com/ One of my personal cycling souvenirs has been to get a jersey signed by Lance. Last year, I tried to get the Yellow Jersey signed and was told that he doesn’t sign them. Apparently he feels that is it sacrilege to have the yellow jersey which is so prized , as something that is signed /written on. So there’s your answer. So , now, I have switched tactics and gone for a Discovery jersey. Vinokourov’s jersey IS a turquoise colour. He has the Kazakhstan national jersey. The colour on TV does not do it justice. Tomorrow is a flat stage, so expect the sprinters to be up front at the finish. Chicken is pretty comfortable in the Climber’s Jersey , and I expect Lance to give it one last hard effort in the ITT before we hit Paris. Till tomorrow.

The Village and Lance Extras

The Village is a part of the Tour that few people will experience, as you need a special pass to get in. Consider this your backstage view of what goes on there. The Village is an area that is set up at the start of every stage. It is a place that is filled with booths and entertainment for the riders to hang out at and VIPs to do whatever VIPs like to do. As Press we have access to this area. Presumably, so we can mingle with the important people and report on them. The booths are set up by some of the Tour sponsors as well as team sponsors in the Village area. The Team booths give riders somewhere to go before the race that they can sit and have a drink, read a paper or make a phone call depending on the booth. The VIPs use the booths to meet, have a drink, lounge or mingle with the riders. There are booths by Nike, Champion (a grocery store), Skoda, Nestle, Minolta, French Telecom, CSC, FD Jeux, Credit Lyonnais, and several others. I spoke to someone who works in the Skoda (European Car Company which sponsors the White Jersey and are used by the Tour Officials) booth, and she told me that she has to be there to set up the booth an hour before the Village opens. Today it opened at 7:30. With the Mountain stages they start the race much earlier than the flatter days, so everyday is different for them. She spends her day handing out hats, giving drinks and providing good cheer to the people who come to the booth. If you happen to be a Skoda VIP you will also get a nice bag of gifts as well. Unfortunately I am apparently not a Skoda VIP! The Village also provides an opportunity for other things as well. You can get a haircut (free of course), a snack of local foods, a newspaper, or a drink. All are very nice ways to spend some pre-race time. Nothing very unique about the Village I guess, but it is a nice place to go and escape the crowds for a little while. Notes: Trek did something interesting for Lance today; they have a series of icons on his bike that tell a story. Today’s story is from his upbringing to the 99 Tour. Each icon tells part of the story. The 1st is a trailer, as in his white trash upbringing 2nd is Texas, where he grew up 3rd is Cancer 4th is Chemo 5th is Angry, as in getting angry and beating the cancer 6th is Paris for the 99 Tour. Of course the 10/2 is the name of his clothing line and the date he was diagnosed with cancer. Every day will have a new series of icons (except for tomorrow – the rest day) to tell his story of every Tour he won. For the rest of us mortals this same idea will be available to us on Trek Project One bikes, so we can tell our own stories! You also may have noticed Lance and a few other riders had a white armband on today. This is for the memory of Fabio Casartelli who died while racing the Tour and racing on Lance’s team. While we are talking about Discovery it is amazing to see the Team win the stage, and have both the Yellow and White jerseys. I think they will have some celebrations tonight! Tomorrow is a rest day, so most riders will be doing a ride and resting and even a few will be doing a press conference. I think I may check out the beach tomorrow to tan my northern complexion. Later.

Another Day , More Access

I thought I should spend today talking about how the Tour works for a Journalist. As a Journalist covering the Tour you receive two essential tools. One is your accreditation, and the other is the race bible, also know as the Tour Handbook. The accreditation is straightforward. It spells out who you are and where you are allowed to go. It features your picture on the front and what your function with the Tour is. As Press we are allowed to go into the press centre as well as the start Village, the start line and the area after the finish. The Press Centre is a giant room usually set up in a school gymnasium or sports arena that houses the thousand or so press that are covering the event. They provide TV coverage of the race, so you can see what is happening in the race. They also provide glamorous things like water and if you are extra lucky, a ham sandwich after the race is done. The Start Village warrants a whole days topic, because it is pretty interesting. More on that to follow. The start line is what you can imagine. For the most part, all of the riders line up on the start line in no particular order, except for the jersey winners. The 4 jersey winners are supposed to line up at the front of the pack for official pictures and such, but Lance has actually been rolling up to the back of the pack as they are starting. I think it is to avoid the media crush. The finish line is again, what it says, except you have all types of media there who are all fighting for a view of the winners. I can’t tell you how many times that I have been run over by the TV guys in search of a bit of video! The Tour Handbook is an indispensable item that all Tour people use. It sits in the front of every vehicle and tells you everything that you need to know about how to get to the stage start and finish. Every stage is spelled out in detail. The exact way to get to the start all the way to when the caravan and racers will be at any point on the coarse. Fantastic! They also lay out an alternate route on how to get from the start to the finish. While it is cool to drive the racecourse, it can be a drag driving 30 km an hour all day long. So to alleviate this, us press and others have a quick way to bypass the course and get to the finish in time to see the finish. It also tells you what vehicles are allowed on course, what all the different passes look like and what access they allow, and how to drive in the peleton. What a great book!! I guess there is one last thing that makes getting around is, the vehicle pass. It is amazing to get waved through all of the Police checkpoints due to a set of stickers on your car. This is controlled to a huge extent, but if you have access, it is amazing to get to the places that we get to, to do our job. On that note, I am off for another day. Don’t worry, I’ll have a glass of red wine for you too!

My First Day at the Tour 05

Ahh the Spectacle that is the Tour de France! Today is July 15th and I have just spent my first day at the Tour. Coming from North America, we have no real perspective on how big this event is and how all encompassing it is for the French public. Thousands and thousands of people line the roads along the entire route just to catch a glimpse of the riders as they pass by. People get so excited that they are willing to wave at anything that passes along the road, including the Canadian Cyclist press car (Maybe they just get bored!) It is really exciting to see people, including lots of small children in a frenzy at the thought of their favourite riders passing by. People will actually camp out along the route just to get a prime spot to watch the race. Well, maybe it is just an excuse to party, but whatever the reason, it is incredible. For those of you who have only seen the race on TV, you are only getting to experience what half of the race is all about. The whole French countryside is taken over by the race. The start and finish towns are literally inaccessible by car from race morning to late in the day due to the crowds and the structures that they erect for the race. On weekends, things only get worse due to the increased crowds. People end up walking for kilometres to get to the finish. Can you imagine North American fans doing this? If you want a place on or near the finish line, be prepared to wait for 4 plus hours to keep your spot. This is the kind of dedication that the fans have. Everywhere you go in France the advertising focuses on the Tour. It is on TV and on the front page of every newspaper. The people really get into it. The race announces itself along the course by the caravan. This is a parade of ‘floats’ that preceed the race and throws gifts and candies out to the waiting crowds. Let me tell you this really gets the fans in a frenzy. I have never seen people get so excited over a Green Cardboard PMU hand. I will go into more detail on the caravan another day. The race also has 4-5 helicopters that fly overhead of the racers. If you are ever in doubt where the race is, all you have to do is look to the skies. Each start town hosts what they call a ‘Village’. This is the place where VIP’s , press, and racers go to be treated to something to eat or drink, or a place to go and get away from the crowds. More on this to follow as well. Just try looking for a hotel near the Tour route when it is on. I have stayed 100km away from the finish of a stage, only to find the rest of the hotel occupied by part of the caravan, or filled with a race team, or even the podium girls. The race has a huge impact on the tourism industry in France. Well onto a few notes about today’s stage: The temperature here is 33 + Deg C. I spoke to Chris Horner today and he was hoping to have some shorter stages like 170 km instead of the 230 km stages that they now have. His comment on the food was “it’s pretty much the same every day. I could really use a stop at McDonalds.� I guess he earned it today. What do you want Chris? A Big Mac or 2? I’m buying! Lance seems to be pretty happy with the way things are going. When asked about who his biggest competitor was he said “ Myself� and then went on to explain how a racer has to pay attention to all of the things that keep them racing, like diet, sleep, staying healthy… He then went on to list Chicken , Ulrich and Basso as guys he has to watch. Chicken (Rasmussen) said “I have accomplished everything that I wanted to. Everything from here on is a gift�. He also was quick to pick up the special Tour de France Polka dot version of a Powerbar.Sheryl Crow was by Lance after he finished. Sorry National Enquirer, they still look as luvey as ever.

Tour De France

I'm am on my way to the Tour to take pictures of the action. I will be following the race from Sage 12 in Briancon on July 14 all the way to the finish in Paris on July 24th. I am looking forward to some great drama to unfold in the race during this time. It will be great to see Lance win his 7th and last Tour this year, and then retire. I expect the media frenzy to be huge in Paris , when the race and Lance's career both finish. I will be on the lookout for the usual Tour celebrities who come and hang around at the race. Sheryl Crow,and Robin Williams are regulars at the race, and you never know who else will turn up. I'll keep you posted as things develop. - Chris

August 11, 2004 Our new photo slideshow is up. Turn up the volume. - Chris August 4, 2004 Welcome to the Redden Media website. I will be posting updates on current activities, upcoming events, and items of general interest. Please check back often to see what's up. - Chris