In reply to yorkshireman:
Etape 2009 was quite a day. I had been out to Nepal for two months in late 2007 and fancied something other than freezing my bollocks off in a tent and eating dahl for a bit. Cycling seemed to fit the bill so I lobbed in an entry for the etape and started to do a few bike rides.
On the day somebody touched my rear wheel before Col d'Ey and I was over the handlebars before I knew it. Getting rolled down the tarmac at speed hurt (quite a bit actually)and was bloody. Having established the fact that I hadn't obviously busted anything or the bit of carbon fibre that makes climbing gear look cheap I got back on. Just made the cut off at the foot of Ventoux. My rear tyre (not tube) exploded half way through the woods and ended up pushing said bike in a cycling version of summit fever. Eventually got hold of a rear tyre from a Sky van and they kindly fixed it for me as by that stage I couldn't bend. I couldn't resist saying "put me on the bike" to the mechanic who lifted me back on
. Things had certainly quietened down by Ventoux and there was plenty of room. The medical team patched me up at the finish and I got x-rayed to check I hadn't fractured my pelvis.
Hopefully les deux etapes 2011 will be less eventful. I reckon the two downhills will be a cavalry charge to rival Balaclava. Eyes in back of head for the downs will be a useful addition to a compact gear set up for the ups. I really ought to be sitting on a turbo this week as my local lanes are frozen up but buggering about on easy winter routes in Snowdonia seems a lot more fun than that.
I used a cyclomundo package to secure an entry. Not a rip-off but over the odds as there was no on-line entry only system running then.
