Le Tour

[olbod]

Well, the race is off to a good start.
Leeds to Harrowgate.
The scenery is just beautiful.
A couple of things amazed me tho, first was the rock walls all over the place, not a star picket in sight. These walls ran for mile after mile along roadsides and across paddocks, cheez, must have taken years to build.
I can only imagine that something on this scale could only be built by slaves or people on 457 visas.
I would be surprised if there was a spare stone left anywhere lying around in the country.
The other thing I noticed that was very evident and ideal was the telegraph poles, or the lack of them.
Mile after mile along the roadsides there were no poles or very few.
Passing homesteads and such I could not see many poles.
In the towns and villages they were evident but out in the country side they were few and far between. It looked nice and pristene.

Forgot who won the stage ( I usually do ) but there was a prang at the finish. Mark Cavendish came a gutsa. He fell really heavily, I dont know if he broke anything.

[Celtoid]

Well, the race is off to a good start.
Leeds to Harrowgate.
The scenery is just beautiful.
A couple of things amazed me tho, first was the rock walls all over the place, not a star picket in sight. These walls ran for mile after mile along roadsides and across paddocks, cheez, must have taken years to build.
I can only imagine that something on this scale could only be built by slaves or people on 457 visas.
I would be surprised if there was a spare stone left anywhere lying around in the country.
The other thing I noticed that was very evident and ideal was the telegraph poles, or the lack of them.
Mile after mile along the roadsides there were no poles or very few.
Passing homesteads and such I could not see many poles.
In the towns and villages they were evident but out in the country side they were few and far between. It looked nice and pristene.

Forgot who won the stage ( I usually do ) but there was a prang at the finish. Mark Cavendish came a gutsa. He fell really heavily, I dont know if he broke anything.

They have some beautiful countryside over there. I don't think there were any slaves involved in the walls, they just slowly appeared over hundreds if not thousands of years. Some of the rock would have been quarried but other stuff is quarried by nature in the way of scree. Scree being the broken debris that falls off rock features due to ice, sun, wind and water all doing their thing.

An interesting note though, Heritage organisations were set up quite a long time ago to prevent the dismantling of ruined castles and abbeys by the locals for building material. Some of the standing stones were even fractured by the locals using fire and then rapid water cooling, to break the large stones into smaller building material.

[Bigbjorn]

Imagine how crook the fields must have been before hundreds of years of picking the stones out.

[Cobber]

It certainly is a very pretty part of Britain. I was a bit apprehensive about starting the race there but I'm glad they have :BigThumb:

[davidsonsm]

Yep. The Yorkshire moors are a special place on this earth. Some of the best fish and chips and bitter anywhere. Fond memories. I'm a Lancastrian but went to uni in Leeds. Watching the tour avidly.

They fry the fish and chips in beef dripping! Great for taste. Bad for arteries.

Haworth is one is the villages the riders will go through. It's where Last of the Summer Wine was filmed. Crap programme, but it did showcase the countryside.

One of the other differences I've observed when it come to country side pollution (when considering buried power lines), is the rash of signage in Australia vs elsewhere. This country is overrun with signage. You can't drive a km without seeing one or more - try it.

Yeah, the flying manxman dislocated his shoulder. Pretty painful I'm sure. Not sure if his tour is over.

[Slunnie]

A stunning event. Love the landscapes too.

Marcel Kittel won.

[disco man]

Tour De Farce,may the bloke with the best steroids triumph:(

[Slunnie]

Tour De Farce,may the bloke with the best steroids triumph:(
Steroids were so years ago, EPO, testosterone and blood transfusions are so yesterday. Team doctors however are so far ahead of UCI doctors its not funny as outlined by Tyler Hamilton in "The Secret Race".

I recall last year, race winner Chris Froome saying that people shouldn't be asking what he is on, but what he is doing to be going so well. Well, the statistics had Froome in 2nd position of all time climb times amongst 9 know drug users and the Science in Sport analysis has the performances from Cadel Evan, who Froome was beating comprehensively, as being on the absolute maximal limits of clean human ability.

I don't for a second believe Le Tour is clean, but we will never know whats being used until after a few people fall sometime in the future.

This said, clean performances are still improving and passing former doped performances..... but

[davidsonsm]

They'd get a pint of Tetleys down their necks if they had any sense. It used to improve my performance on the dance floor no end. Arrh - so many happy memories being evoked, seeing the scenery of Yarkshire.

[RANDLOVER]

Around the world in 79 days: Cyclist breaks record for fastest circumnavigation of the planet - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-19/cyclist-breaks-record-with-his-round-the-world-trip-in-79-days/8960588)

[weeds]

Around the world in 79 days: Cyclist breaks record for fastest circumnavigation of the planet - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-19/cyclist-breaks-record-with-his-round-the-world-trip-in-79-days/8960588)

Great effort....I cannot find a map of his route.

[Don 130]

Around the world in 80 days - Route Map | Artemis World Cycle (http://www.artemisworldcycle.com/the-challenge/around-the-world-route-map/)

Around the World in 80 Days - Route Map - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX5z7gaILzY)

Don.

[RANDLOVER]

If you like watching the TDF you might also like to watch SBS Viceland tonight:

Cycling: Uci Road World Championships

Sunday, 24 Sep
10:30 PM - 1:30 AM [180 mins]
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/09/938.jpg

Coverage of the UCI Road World Championships Men's Road Race 2017, held in Bergen, Norway.

[RANDLOVER]

Well Peter Sagan won his 3rd World Title with Australia's Michael Matthews getting the Bronze medal. Sagan is freakishly good, I remember 1st seeing him in the Tour of California & if memory serves he won 4 out of 7 stages.