2008 Tour to Gaillac!!!!!

Well there you go, that's it, the Tour organizers have released the official route of the 2008 Tour, and guess what... it goes right though GAILLAC. Yep, once again the Tour is coming home, to the cycling Mecca that is the Tarn and the Gaillac region. Long live the vineyards, the wine, the cheese, the sun, the rolling roads, the.... well, for those of you who know the area because you have come over to see me, you know what I'm talking about, and for those of you who haven't been over... well... you'll never know. :-)

I got up bloody early this morning, had some snotty e-mails from Craig Shepherd in Australia about my being up so early (and according to him, 5:45am is not early), and I was off to the train station to head up to Paris and cover the Tour presentation for Pezcyclingnews.com http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=5414&status=True

As I watched the course unfold before my eyes I couldn't help to think about how it was going to affect our Bikestyletours.com trips next year, what rides we could do, how best to transfer from one stage to the next etc etc.

And with all this Tour talk, I haven't ridden by bike properly since last Sunday when I did the Chateauroux group ride. I went out on the bike for an hour to make sure my new cleats were in the right place on my shoes, but that doesn't count. I went running last night... so.... it's about time I got my ass back out there and did some riding. Actually I am looking forward to getting back down south to Cadalen (home, near Gaillac) for the quality riding. Riding down there is just so nice and easy and simple. Not only do I know all the roads around there, but there are so many small roads it's always a pleasure.

Evans pulls his "smell a fart" face at Sim... Sorry mate!