accidents

Day 4 is Crash Day, + Taylor Fladgate Review

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Yay! I managed to get out of bed in time for the live coverage for the first day of the Tour in France, starting in Orchies, a beautiful coastal town in France.

The question of the day is, “Can anyone beat Mark Cavadish and his Bulge of the Day?”

 It didn’t take long for an accident to occur around a sharp corner with an island in the middle of the road.  One cyclist was able to get his arm patched up by the team doctor as he was cycling down the road – Wheeeees!!!

 There they go through the food station where they get their extra power bars and they stuff them into their mini backpacks, then they throw their water bottles off the side of the road, where they are collected later.

Oh noes, another minor crash!!!  They managed to clear this one up pretty quickly, thankfully!

 Now they are in the sprint area with a group of 5 out front by about 5 minutes. I love the narrow roads in the small town and the kids in the school yard running over to the fence to catch a view of the riders.

 Oh noes, a big crash happened towards the end of the peloton! Most the riders were able to get around it all right.  A Russian from the Sky team was laying on the pavement and another rider had a flat tire.  The Spanish national champion is out of the race.  The peloton is about 3.5 minutes behind the leaders.

Ooops, another pile up, this one towards the front of the peloton on a narrow road.  Tyler Farrar ended up in two crashes and looks a bit beat up with his arm scraped up!

A person can see the Dutch influence in the architecture here in Aire-sur-la-Lys, France.

Now one of the BMC riders needs a new shoe.  Meanwhile, another rider has abandoned the race after crashing, awwwwws!!!!!  The peloton has broken up and the riders are scrambling to catch up with the four leaders who are ahead by a minute and a half.  All the riders are further scrambling as the finish rapidly approaches.  The peloton is less than a minute behind now as they head towards the finish.

Oh my, the corner around the roundabout is very sharp as the riders are hauling ass through some narrow streets of the beautiful Boulogne-sur-Mer towards the finish.  One rider almost crashed, and another rider went from the front of the peloton to the back of the pack just by missing the turn.

Now they are fighting their way uphill as they seem a bit desperate for the finish line.  Oh noes, another crash almost at the finish!  Then, I saw a rider miss the last turn and try to go the wrong way – LOL!  It’s a crazy day on the Tour de Underpants!!!!  Some riders will prolly need some new underpants after all that skidding about!!!!  LOL!!!!

And, finally, after much sprinting……….it’s Peter Sagen for the win again!!!!  Wootz!!!!  Nicely done!!!  Too BAD I didn’t see any candidates for the Bulge of the Day Award today!!!! Oh well,  I’ll see what I can find tomorrow tram!!!

And on another note, the Tour de Underpants goes especially well with a lovely tawny port such as the Taylor Fladgate 20 year port for about $54 here in Washington.  A rich and concentrated port, with intense flavors of pecan, walnut, a bit of caramel, rich, sweet, woody vanilla, and even a hint of apricot with a strong, lingering finish.  This would be an excellent cigar port since it has a nice kick to it as well – Yay!!! A person can have a lot of funz with this, making it perfect to go with the Tour!!!  Yays!!!

OK, have all the funz, meh hearties!!!  Have a safe and fun 4th of July, all of my American readers and anyone else that enjoys setting off fireworks and BBQ’ing!!!!! Yays!!!!!

Tour de Underpants – Day 2!

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Ah yes, here we are in the midst of the Day 2 action on the Tour de Underpants, 6:07 am Sunday morgen with meh Bollinger bubbly and its epic tram!  The guy in the red shorts has The Bulge of the Day Tram!! Yays!!  It looks a bit fake from here thoughs!!!

It’s the first day of racing on the open road through Belgium, which looks just like France there in the countryside.  So far, I have observed one rider nearly losing his bicycling shoe, another rider with a chunk of his arm missing, and another rider nearly ride straight into a concrete median after getting his brake adjusted!  Another rider had to pull over and have a mechanic look at his bike.  The mechanic fiddled with it and the rider hopped back on and took off, as the peloton rode on by, awwwws!

 Oh noes, the narrow uphill corner in the first hill really served as a choking off point for the peloton.  That is one of the advantages of being further ahead of the field, as well as staying clearer of accidents like the one saw in last year’s Tour that took out like a dozen or more cyclists in one accident in the crowded peloton.

 And I can also see how some riders are falling back on the hills while others are appearing strong and able to keep a good pace uphill.

 Coolies!  They had some inflatable slides and such set up along the way!  I wouldn’t mind sliding down the slide and such!

Yays for another morgen on the Tour Tram!!!  Ah yes, the leaders are over 3 minutes ahead of the peloton tram!

 Ok, when is the commercial break?  I need a bubbly refill and some Le Roule and crackers tram!!!   Breakfast of Champions Tram!!!  Do it baby at 6:43 am tram!!!!!

 Back with fromage and bubbly!  Epic picture of the peloton hauling ass through the heavily-treed hilly area!

 Oh mys, they showed the worst of the accidents from last year, and a clip from a prior year of one of the Schleck brothers after an accident where his bloodied rear end was hanging out of ripped biking shorts.  That looked like an incredible pain in the rear!  Yes indeed, a reminder of the danger of bicycling thousands of miles throughout the French region of Europe at top speeds with very little to nothing standing between you and the pavement!

Yohanne Green of France had to make a cycle change on an uphill segment.  Catch back up tram!

A bit later, it was like ooops!  Someone in the peloton fell and took a few riders out with them tram!!!  Some peeps put some solar panels on some very old buildings.  The owners must be Dutch; they have solar panels all over the place in that country – LOL!

Oh mys, sometimes the live coverage is less than appealing, such as watching the leader blow his nose without a Kleenex as he pedals full speed ahead – LOL!

Oh noes, the middle of the peloton was caught up outside a restaurant Villa D’Asle!  Many peeps were held up and such!  All of the riders are back in the race now tram!

Yes a bit further up the road looks more Dutch to me, yet with the symmetry of the French, with the industrial waterway on one side, and on the other, roads with arrows painted on them, and the greenhouse with row after row of flowers, and where individual sections of the flats have different colors of roofing and siding and such.

 Oh mys, that very steep uphill area in the Dutch/French town of Seraing looks agonizing as they press on for the finish!

Peter Sagan won the stage!  Nicely done!  Fabian Cancellara keeps the Yellow Jersey Tram!!  Awwwws, Cadel Evans placed 20th in this stage!  I was hoping for better!  Perhaps we have some new winners on board for the yellow jersey, or perhaps not – LOL!  Only time will tell tram!!!

LOL!  I get the feeling the model that gave the white shirt to the winner couldn’t wait to get off the stage or something – LOL!  Perhaps she didn’t like the winner or something!

OK, that wraps up another epic day of cycling and beautiful Belgium/Franco Scenery Tram!   Take care and party hearty, meh hearties tram!!!