Tour De France Photo Essay courtesy of the Boston Globe

The Boston Globe has a wonderful two part photo essay of this years Tour online here:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/07/2008_tour_de_france.html
part two here:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/07/2008_tour_de_france_conclusion.html

Some great photos that capture the essence of the Tour.

The Tour Baby!! SALE again

Sorry to keep doing this - I k now it isnt worthy of a real post but I am moving home and trying to send some stuff to worthy homes as opposed to goodwill.

So online now you can start bidding on The Tour Baby and Cobbles Baby as a set on ebay!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140252390598

Moving Sale!

Yeah - SALE!!

My wife, daughter and myself are moving to the second city in September.
In order to lighten our load I have decided to hold a one month moving sale which means you are able to buy original pieces of cycling artwork at reduced rates - an opportunity not to miss.

Click here to download the Sale pdf.

Class Act

Chris Horner has been one of the few American based Pro's (pre Euro team days) that I and others knew of living in the UK.

Here he is showing how to race a bike and enjoy it....

The leaders had already come through when a moto approached me and said, "Get your camera ready - one hell of a shot is coming your way"

I readied.

30 seconds later, the form of a rider appeared up the road. Wait. A rider? Two riders? What the hell is that thing?

Click here for the story and photographs

Keep an eye on Heidi's blog she has great stories and photos of the US bike scene.
Is there something in the air that makes Oregon a hotbed for cyclists.

Virtual Musette

I am adding The Virtual Musette to my links.

Its a fun blog with great write-ups comparing riders through different eras, introducing new machines etc but definitely with it's nose in 'classic cycling', being the days of Coppi, Anquetil, Merckx, Lemond and musettes.

I'll leave it to the Team Chef to convince you to add The Virtual Musette to you feeder:

Why should we read your posts?

Well, you shouldn’t be reading my posts for timely news. There are lots of sites that do a much better job at that sort of thing. You should be reading if you enjoy a little pro cycling history, with some commentary on the current road race scene; gear reviews, but only on stuff that’s been abused for some time; interviews, but generally with the behind the scenes people who are generally overlooked by the major sites; reviews of DVDs and books; information on Euro cycling camps, tour companies, gran fondos and cyclosportives; and finally, random observations on some of the many little things which make up the fabric of our road biking culture.

Tommy Godwin - Olympic Cyclist 1948, 2 Bronze medals

Here is a great interview from from the Guardian Newspaper.
6 great interviews actually with British competitors from the 1948 Olympic Games.

Tommy Godwin was 26 when he won bronze in the 1000m tt and Team Pursuit on the track.
His wooden rimmed wheels and bike cost him $10, 19 and sixpence.

Here's his take on the Olympics....

the Olympic games on was a wonderful thing. It was the youth of the world getting together and you just enjoyed yourself - if you got a medal, you were very proud but you knew it wouldn't make a very big difference to your life. I came back and people at work were, 'Ooh, you've won a medal.'"

Read the interviews here.

Ebay

I have two cycling items on ebay right now - I would rather sell them than carry them to Chicago when we move in August. If that fails they will go to Housingworks Bookstore!

Anyway get involved in a bidding war now for:

"Bicycle Messenger" - a photographic book by Kyle Shepard.
This is a book of photographs taken by Kyle Shepard, a photographer and messenger fron San Francisco. It captures the lives and characters of the messenger community in beauiful B&W images. It's a first edition printed in 1999, in great condition.

"The Ultimate Ride" signed by Chris Carmichael
This is a signed hardback first edition of 'The Ultimate Ride'
I bought this book at a silent auction held by a NYC Cycling Team.
The book was signed by Chris Carmichael to help in their fundraising for local children's charities.

The book is in great condition. Very slight scuffing on edges of dustjacket - no marks inside.

Publisher's Note:
Lance Armstrong's personal coach shares the Tour de France champion's training regimen, cutting-edge techniques, nutritional advice, goal-setting practices, and mental exercises, in a step-by-step program for aspiring cyclists.

Cycling Anime

"Triplettes of Bellville" is in the broom wagon and "Nasu: Summer in Andalusia" and "Nasu: Japanese Cup" have broken away in an attempt to win the yellow jersey for cycling cartoon movies - no really. I just found out about these two and have not seen them so of course the above statement is just to get your attention - though to be honest once the training section of Triplettes is over I do find the rest of the movie pretty dull. This is what Wiki has to say about the plot for "Summer"

Nasu: Summer in Andalusia follows the story of a professional Spanish cyclist, Pepe Benengeli, as he competes in the Vuelta a España road bicycle race through his home town in the Iberian region of Andalusia. As the story progresses, Pepe is faced with frustrating consequences, with him facing pressure from his sponsors and the wedding of his former girlfriend, Carmen, to his elder brother, Angel, coinciding on the same day of the penultimate stage of the bicycle race, and strives to gain the respect of his team and family.

"Japanese Cup" the sequel is set during the Japanese Cup Race... If you can find these to view in the US let me know.

Here are some sneak peeks in which you can see teams such as Pamei, Lampo, Saico and recognise a few riders such as Comesso:

Nasu:Japan Cup

PS: Nasu may mean eggplant!