July 30, 2009 – 4:19 am
Day 28, Stage 21
Montereau-Fault-Yonne - Paris, Champs Elysees, 164km
1. a sweatbox of a hotel room
2. nervous energy and excitement surrounding the final stage
3. nightmares about extreme traffic (when I finally did sleep)
All of the above combined to lead to me only getting between one and two hours sleep last night. I feel tired and lethargic and just [...]
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July 30, 2009 – 4:05 am
Day 27, Rest Day
Today we drove 650km from Mont Ventoux to our start town for tomorrow’s final stage where we will ride into Paris. We can’t believe we are only one stage away from completion.
During the drive we saw lots of Tour de France sponsor vehicles for the caravan heading in the opposite direction towards [...]
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July 30, 2009 – 3:55 am
Day 26, Stage 20
Montelimar – Mont Ventoux, 167km
Today is a biggie that we have all been hanging for as it ends with a climb up to the famous (and massive) Mont Ventoux in what is the hardest ever penultimate stage of the Tour de France. Usually stage 20 is a short time trial but this [...]
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July 30, 2009 – 3:39 am
Day 25, Stage 19
Bourgoin-Jallieu – Aubenas, 178km
Mother Nature loves us again and gave us a massive tailwind for most of the stage which was very timely. It was also 32 degrees Celsius which was so nice after all of the inconsistent weather in the Alps.
It felt great to see high 30’s and early 40’s on [...]
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July 24, 2009 – 6:03 am
Day 24, Stage 18
Annecy Time Trial, 40.5km
Video Diary
At last, a short flat stage. The 40.5km ride around the lake at Annecy was a really nice ride and will be a good time trial circuit for the real tour.
In the afternoon we went back to complete the final two climbs from yesterday. The weather was a [...]
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July 24, 2009 – 6:01 am
Day 23, Stage 17
Bourg-Saint-Maurice - Le Grand-Bornand, 169.5km
My neurokinesiologist told me that “your subconscious will believe anything you tell it”. Ever since I saw the profile for today’s stage I have been trying to talk myself into thinking I am capable of completing a monster of a stage such as this.
Possibly the hardest stage of [...]
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