Saturday, July 03, 2004

Live from the Prologue

Sitting here at over the halfway point with the top 60 guys still to go. The town is jammed and they were expecting 200,000 people along the (very short) course. Windy, overcast and cool. Sporadic bursts of showers earlier. I'm near the big screen TV and there is continuous commentary over the loud speakers. Lots of T-Mobile and Rabobank supporters right in this area. My pick? Brad McGee.

When we first got here, a few of us were walking around with Stevo (Neil Stevens) and we went over to the hotel where 4 teams were staying, including Liberty Seguros. We got to go back to where the mechanics were prepping the bikes and we got to go into the LS buses!!!!! Both the mechanic's work bus and the riders' bus. AWESOME! We also got to see Miguel Inderain, Mr. Francesco Moser and a number of LS riders and Gerolsteiner riders.

Back to the action. We are getting close to the big boys.

One great thing is my Blackberry (which I sent most of these updates). It also has a phone and with it, I was able to hook up with my friends Julie and Ian and their kids Aimee and Lewis. They all drove over from Holland and we met right in the middle of the prologue.

Oops, my pick wasn't such a good one.

Yesterday, Robert and I rode to get money, then stopped for mussels and wine. We got back to the hotel before it started raining buckets, but later the sun came out so a group of us went on a 24 mile ride in the Belgian countryside. Whomever said it was flat is on crack. It was either up, or down. One good long sustained climb of 4-5K. And WIND!

The roads are good but there are no shoulders. At least the cars wait behind you until they can pass, and, without honking. What a concept. We also rode up to the Citadel, which was a long, fairly steep climb. LOVE those FSA compact cranks! They are worth every penny I paid for them. Thanks City Cycle!!

Total riding yesterday: 29.6 miles and 2 hours 9 minutes. Yeah, speedy in the hills.

Today's ride was short: 1:40 and again, either up or down, nothing flat. Rode up to the Citadel again and stopped to have coffee. Rained in the morning, but it quit before we headed out to ride.

One thing I love about the summers here is that it stays light until 11PM! That is so different from San Francisco where it's seemingly dark about 6PM because of the fog. July in San Francisco really sucks (which is reason to go to Europe in July.)