Le Contre-la-Montre de Nice Fête le Tour

Wow!  What a ride!!

Well the day started with the very usual and awesome Hotel breaky. In full Cluster gear of course!

 

 

Then it was on to the bikes and off to the TT. Absolutely amazing scene as we rounded the point and headed down along the beach to the start, MissP and I couldn't stop laughing at the amazing and craziness of it all. Of course, there has to be some excitement... and a flat tyre at the start with no tyre levers and only a small bike pump caused some stress... but after a quick tube change with borrowed levers, Wonderboy found the technical tent in the village and sorted it! Fortunately his start time was 30 mins after MissP and I.

 

The laughter quickly stopped when the seriousness of the TT dawned on us. The start areas were a progression of pens, one complete with warm up bikes.  Nutso, and total intimidation factor!

 

Climbing the start ramp for the TDF team time trial, was.... Awesome!!

 

The TT itself was bloody tough. We all gave it what we had, with Wonderboy stealing the Glory for the day.

 

After that it was back to our Spacious Room (yep..that's 3 beds there!) and a quick change and off to the beach

 

Wow.... only trouble was getting our feet pummeled by rocks by the waves as we got into the water. Wonderboy sat out the swim, I think to savour his victory on the TT.

The rest of the day was spent enjoying the action near the beach and the food !

Wonderboy: So, the time trial course was flat, hot and smooth roads quickened the times                (for some people). After a few shenanigans before the start, my heart rate soon exploded as I was launched off the Tour de France start ramp!
In my keenness I rode on my limit and arrived at the finish line completely exhausted, which was probably not the best approach after a monumental couple of days!
That night was spent investigating results and admiring the fastest times. In which some riders averaged 48km/h over the 25km course.   

Paula's footnotes: Serious eye candy this morning on the start line. Boys and bikes everywhere, where to look first??
Gramps and I tasted some local food - Socca (chickpea bread with pepper fed to the workers) dry, tasteless, boring.
Wonderboy in a world of shock with his first visit to a Nice beach........

Making it!

ok.. for those of you who need to know the ending first.... we are currently in our hotel room in Nice. All registered and Bike's together ready for our Time Trial in the morning.

And... for anyone with heart or blood pressure issues, let me say that the death defying race through the Paris Metro and the sprint through the streets of Nice, both end successfully.

Now back to the day, which started on a plane somewhere over Russia.

Wonderboy and I easily found our way onto the Train to Paris. It's all part of the TGV station at the airport. Despite a death march with bike boxes in hand and bags over our shoulder to change trains as Gare du Nord, without much fuss we made our way to MissP. After much hugging and high fiving we headed back to her hotel room for a shower and some sleep. Right??  Wrong!!

After deciding we should be back in time to leave for Gare du Lyon by 11:45 we headed out for Chausson au Pomme and Coffee. This lead to a taxi ride up the Champs to the Eiffel Tower and some crepes. Which lead to us arriving back at the hotel at 12:15. TGV leaving Gare du Lyon at 12:49 and 2 metro trains required to get there... ooops!

Well, this weekend is all about the TDF TTT... the team time trial. And, a TTT is all about a team working as one... well no TDF team has ever come together better than the Wolfpack (yep that's us) did today. Flying through the Metro, soring out tickets, down stairs, up escalators (MissP with 2 bike boxes in tow!), up stairs... and arriving with a few minutes to spare. Then having to argue with the TGV staff to get the bikes boxes on the train...and then to argue the couldn't go on our laps. 

The TGV is awesome!  4 hours to Ax-en-Provence. It's so fast you can watch the terrain change as you sip your wine in the Food Car. The trip along the coast is slower but the scenery amazing!.

Arriving in Nice at 6:30 and having to register for the TT by 8 sounds like a no brainer...right?? But with 3 bike boxes plus bags we had to drop everything off at the hotel before we registered. Picture loading 3 bike boxes onto a crowded tram. Picture running through the streets with bike box in hand. Suffice it to say by the time we dropped things at the hotel we had 10 minutes left to register!

This time though we had a secret weapon. In addition to amazing team work we had 6 months of IronMan training to rely upon. As we headed off running through the streets - running down a tram, hoping on for 1 stop and then racing off again. We arrived at registration with 2 minutes to spare, only to discover MissP had left her medical certificate at the Hotel. No problem for this team, a quick email pic of it from my iPhone  and we're registered !! (I might add... the last to do it!)

Then dinner (Entrecote Charolais!!) and bike setup and bed!

Quotes of the day

MissP - "Yep, that pretty much went as I expected"

Wonderboy - "I catch the train to school each day, so I wasn't too fused about the train rides" but he sure go excited when he save the TDF village in Nice. And the Eiffel Tower!

Me - "We'll make it... easy!"

And..... we made it!

Off for..... Cycling - No... Dumplings - Yes!

The Tour de France starts this Saturday. Our Cycling starts Sunday... but before all that there's farewells and Dumplings!

First, MissP (the advance team... not the advanced team!) left to setup base camp in Paris. MissP is testing the local food to ensure everything is ready for the team arrival. She couldn't stop smiling at the Airport!

Then yesterday we (Wonderboy and I) left, with SuperGal and WonderMum there to see us off! Woohoo!!



 

Now there are those that expect the next set of pics to be airports or Paris... wrong. Why not stop off for a day in Hong Kong to check up on Cluster legend GT!

Only problem, GT wasn't up for inspection and ran off to KL for the day! However, he did leave the bike for inspection, and wow.. GT.. it's looking good BUT come on!.. I could probably get a bike that clean! Where is you're usual dinner plate clean standard!








Inspection complete it was time to head and checkout Hong Kong. There sure are some hills here. I just needed my bike and for it to be 15 Degrees cooler!

Wonderboy spent the dayadmiring the mountains, massive apartments and choosing which cuts of meat or fish would be best!

Of course, we had to add a Michelin Star restaurant to the day!  And what a beauty! Dumplings like I've never seen before! Melt in your mouth!



On the plane again!

Well team, it's been a while, but in 1 week I'll be back on a plane again heading for France, the Tour, and 3 awesome events!

So... it's time to check you diary, and make sure you have enough time for Tour watching as well as Cluster Event Blog reading.

No excuses!

NLM