Knutsford Great Race from Damon Peacock on Vimeo.
Showing posts with label road racing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label road racing. Show all posts
08 February 2012
A bizarre bike race
Not that I am too interested in bike racing, but I've just stumbled upon this video from Damon Peacock while faffing on the internet. A once every 10 years occasion to race amongst other penny farthers!
21 September 2011
Behind the Scenes at the Tour of Britain Stage 8
This summer we have been lucky enough to see a few pro races in action, and although they are fun, we don't necessarily feel the need to go out of our way to see every possible race. This Sunday I knew that the Tour of Britain's 8th and final stage was taking place in London, but I didn't plan to go watch it. Nevertheless I ended up having an interesting peek at work that goes on behind the scenes at a cycle race, and some celebrity spotting to boot!
I was in Trafalgar Square with a friend and we came across the course during the morning's time trial. I stopped to watch a few riders go past, and then we wandered along toward the river. Suddenly, I saw a side street with all of the team vehicles parked there. We decided to go in for a closer look and I realised that this was where the teams had set up to transition between the morning's time trial stage (8a) and the afternoon's final group stage (8b) around London. There were loads of time trial bikes waiting to be cleaned, and road racing bikes ready to be adjusted to their riders' liking.
As we went along we saw a few different riders sitting on the bikes making sure they were right. We also saw, from a distance, Geraint Thomas signing autographs for the crowd. I hadn't been following the race that closely so didn't have any favourite riders that I was dying to see... but then we walked by the van for team HTC-Highroad.
There was a crowd of people outside it, but nothing much was happening. It seemed like the right thing to do to see if we could get a glimpse of Mark Cavendish, Britain's most famous cyclist and the most dominant sprinter in the world at the moment. But I don't think I actually believed that I would get to see him.
Then it happened! He came out of his trailer wearing all black HTC-branded sweats. It was so exciting! He signed a few autographs and then there was a moment of drama when the reporter who was interviewing him seemed to piss him off. He walked away angrily and said that he had been asking about doping! But a few moments later he was back to happily signing autographs. He never came over to where I was standing, but I was just happy to stand by taking pictures!
So, now we have a third perspective on what it's like at a pro cycling race. It gets more interesting each time!
I was in Trafalgar Square with a friend and we came across the course during the morning's time trial. I stopped to watch a few riders go past, and then we wandered along toward the river. Suddenly, I saw a side street with all of the team vehicles parked there. We decided to go in for a closer look and I realised that this was where the teams had set up to transition between the morning's time trial stage (8a) and the afternoon's final group stage (8b) around London. There were loads of time trial bikes waiting to be cleaned, and road racing bikes ready to be adjusted to their riders' liking.
There was a crowd of people outside it, but nothing much was happening. It seemed like the right thing to do to see if we could get a glimpse of Mark Cavendish, Britain's most famous cyclist and the most dominant sprinter in the world at the moment. But I don't think I actually believed that I would get to see him.
Then it happened! He came out of his trailer wearing all black HTC-branded sweats. It was so exciting! He signed a few autographs and then there was a moment of drama when the reporter who was interviewing him seemed to piss him off. He walked away angrily and said that he had been asking about doping! But a few moments later he was back to happily signing autographs. He never came over to where I was standing, but I was just happy to stand by taking pictures!
So, now we have a third perspective on what it's like at a pro cycling race. It gets more interesting each time!
04 September 2011
Watching La Vuelta a España from the top of a hill
Last weekend, we went to Madrid to visit Alberto's family and spend some time in a place where summer actually exists, unlike the UK! As luck would have it, the Vuelta a España (like the Tour de France, but in Spain) is on at the moment and Stage 8 on Saturday finished in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, a beautiful town outside of Madrid and only about 20 minutes drive from where Alberto's family lives. We knew we had to go check it out!
We've been to see a pro cycling race before, but this one was different in a number of ways:
1. It's the Vuelta a España, one of the three Grand Tours and a major event on the cycling calendar, not a dinky little classic in the UK! There were a LOT of big names.
2. We were at the finish of the race (we stood between the 200 and 300 meters-to-go banners), rather than a random spot along the route. This meant much more excitement and bigger crowds.
3. It was an uphill finish. And when I say uphill, I mean UP. HILL. The slope reached 27% at some points. This meant we could watch the riders go past slowly. The final 1km went straight up a narrow, straight road -- so the riders came past us in little bunches and we had enough time to see the names on their backs and shout out at them.
While we waited, we were entertained by a radio announcer who stood near us broadcasting the race. Those of our readers who understand Spanish may find the video amusing. (Ok, those who don't understand it might still find it amusing!)
Anyway, we waited in anticipation until eventually we could see a helicopter overhead and a few official cars and motorbikes flew past. Finally, we saw him -- Joaquim Rodriguez of team Katusha, or Purito as the Spaniards call him, flying up the mountain, followed closely by Lampre's Michele Sarponi. As the main peloton passed I shot this video. Apologies that it starts a bit slowly -- I really didn't want to miss the riders coming by! The riders arrive at about 1:15 in the video. (You can even hear the point where I spotted Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins and shouted out his name. A few days later he took on the leader's red jersey and at the moment still has it!)
Because of the hill, the riders were very spread out so we had a chance to see lots more cyclists come past and some of them really needed the moral support as they suffered up the mountain.
When it was all over, we walked back down to the exhibition area and looked around. I was excited to find a bike that had been signed by Jens Voigt, probably my favorite pro (and blogger)!
And to top off a great day, while walking through town, we even caught a glimpse of Purito as he cycled back down to his hotel after he had won the stage and took the leader's jersey for the day!
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| About 500m from the finish (and no, we didn't write that!) |
1. It's the Vuelta a España, one of the three Grand Tours and a major event on the cycling calendar, not a dinky little classic in the UK! There were a LOT of big names.
2. We were at the finish of the race (we stood between the 200 and 300 meters-to-go banners), rather than a random spot along the route. This meant much more excitement and bigger crowds.
3. It was an uphill finish. And when I say uphill, I mean UP. HILL. The slope reached 27% at some points. This meant we could watch the riders go past slowly. The final 1km went straight up a narrow, straight road -- so the riders came past us in little bunches and we had enough time to see the names on their backs and shout out at them.
 |
| View from close to the finish line.
We arrived in El Escorial in the early afternoon, and the riders weren't expected until 5:30 or so. We had time to walk up the race route (and it was steep enough to be difficult to walk!), take in the atmosphere, and have lunch in town before heading back to the route to find a spot to watch. It was quite busy already by 4:30 but we eventually found some space. Unfortunately, it was right next to a guy holding the Madrid flag who thought that it was funny to hold it out in front of everything that went passed...not just cyclists but cars and motorbikes as well! It was annoying because it blocked the view for a lot of the time.
|
 |
| For a sense of the angle. Note struggling children in background. |
Anyway, we waited in anticipation until eventually we could see a helicopter overhead and a few official cars and motorbikes flew past. Finally, we saw him -- Joaquim Rodriguez of team Katusha, or Purito as the Spaniards call him, flying up the mountain, followed closely by Lampre's Michele Sarponi. As the main peloton passed I shot this video. Apologies that it starts a bit slowly -- I really didn't want to miss the riders coming by! The riders arrive at about 1:15 in the video. (You can even hear the point where I spotted Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins and shouted out his name. A few days later he took on the leader's red jersey and at the moment still has it!)
Because of the hill, the riders were very spread out so we had a chance to see lots more cyclists come past and some of them really needed the moral support as they suffered up the mountain.
When it was all over, we walked back down to the exhibition area and looked around. I was excited to find a bike that had been signed by Jens Voigt, probably my favorite pro (and blogger)!
And to top off a great day, while walking through town, we even caught a glimpse of Purito as he cycled back down to his hotel after he had won the stage and took the leader's jersey for the day!
20 August 2011
Watching a pro-cycling race
Last weekend, we decided to check out the London-Surrey Cycle Classic, yet another event of the London Prepares series. The race took the route of next year's Olympic road race, except the peloton only did two laps of Box Hill, rather than the nine that the men will do next year.
The Olympic route starts and finishes on the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace, and goes through Richmond Park (fast becoming a favourite) both on exit and entry from London, then does a loop through Surrey. We thought we'd go watch the race from there since we know it well and we predicted there would be a good atmosphere of machacas there.
We caught the train to Richmond in time to watch the peloton come through on their return to the mall; the riders would have about 20km left in the race at that point. A fellow spectator told us that he had watched the riders leave west London earlier in the morning and there had been a breakaway of four riders, about a minute ahead of the peloton, so we were excited to find out how the race would look at this point so close to the finish line.
We knew the riders were nearby when a series of cars and motorbikes came flying past. First was a race radio car with loudspeakers on top. As it went by, it broadcast the current status of the race, so we heard that there were still two men in the breakaway and they were about 20 seconds ahead. Then several police motorbikes came past, from all across the UK, followed by the cars of the race officials and other important figures.
Finally, we saw two riders coming around the curve in front of us. We cheered them on and waited for the peloton which were knew were right behind them (they had even cleared the race vehicles from between them, a sure sign that the peloton were going to catch up any minute now. The peloton flew by, team GB at the front, and it was all over in a few seconds.
Many people in the crowd started crossing the road and leaving, while the race marshals (who are also practicing for next year!) tried to remind us that we hadn't seen the sweep vehicle come past yet. People were milling about, standing in the road, wandering off, when all of a sudden a second group of riders came into view in the distance! The marshals started frantically trying to get everyone out of the road, just in time for the second peloton, almost as big as the first, to come past. We were left wondering what could have possibly happened to split the peloton like that. Was there a crash that held people back, or maybe its just that there were two types of pro-riders on this race, the world class ones like Mark Cavendish and Tyler Farrar, and the middling racers who ride for smaller trade teams.
After the excitement of the second peloton, we waited around and watched a few more small groups of riders come around the bend. There was a long gap where no one came past... except for some normal Richmond Park machacas who had somehow managed to get on the road without being stopped by a marshall--the crowd was cheering them on unwittingly! During all this time, the marshals didn't have any more information than the spectators, except they knew that the sweep vehicle had not come past yet. Finally, a marshal somehow heard that there were two riders at the back, who had been involved in a crash. We waited for this last rider, gave him as much encouragement as we could muster, and watched the sweep vehicle come past.
It was more excitement than we had planned for and a lot of fun to watch the pros in action. Although I do hope they sort out the communication with the marshals for the next time around!
The Olympic route starts and finishes on the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace, and goes through Richmond Park (fast becoming a favourite) both on exit and entry from London, then does a loop through Surrey. We thought we'd go watch the race from there since we know it well and we predicted there would be a good atmosphere of machacas there.
We caught the train to Richmond in time to watch the peloton come through on their return to the mall; the riders would have about 20km left in the race at that point. A fellow spectator told us that he had watched the riders leave west London earlier in the morning and there had been a breakaway of four riders, about a minute ahead of the peloton, so we were excited to find out how the race would look at this point so close to the finish line.
We knew the riders were nearby when a series of cars and motorbikes came flying past. First was a race radio car with loudspeakers on top. As it went by, it broadcast the current status of the race, so we heard that there were still two men in the breakaway and they were about 20 seconds ahead. Then several police motorbikes came past, from all across the UK, followed by the cars of the race officials and other important figures.
Finally, we saw two riders coming around the curve in front of us. We cheered them on and waited for the peloton which were knew were right behind them (they had even cleared the race vehicles from between them, a sure sign that the peloton were going to catch up any minute now. The peloton flew by, team GB at the front, and it was all over in a few seconds.
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| The breakaway |
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| The peloton |
 |
| Surprise! Peloton number 2! |
After the excitement of the second peloton, we waited around and watched a few more small groups of riders come around the bend. There was a long gap where no one came past... except for some normal Richmond Park machacas who had somehow managed to get on the road without being stopped by a marshall--the crowd was cheering them on unwittingly! During all this time, the marshals didn't have any more information than the spectators, except they knew that the sweep vehicle had not come past yet. Finally, a marshal somehow heard that there were two riders at the back, who had been involved in a crash. We waited for this last rider, gave him as much encouragement as we could muster, and watched the sweep vehicle come past.
It was more excitement than we had planned for and a lot of fun to watch the pros in action. Although I do hope they sort out the communication with the marshals for the next time around!
23 June 2011
A Real Machaca
Just in case you were wondering what a real machaca is, you can read this article about Ryder Hesjedal, a Canadian pro cyclist.
My favourite bit:
"To race bicycles is to drink greedily from the chalice of agony."... and that's why I don't think I'll be entering a race anytime soon!
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