The all New Tour Down Under Thread....

....the last one was getting a little tired and long and even though so many of you lovely people had recommended it I thought.....why rest on my laurels of success?

I just got a text from my ex that said 'The Tour is in the Air'...I'm excited! As if I care!!! (only kidding if you ever read this hunny bunny :-) But she's right. All the fat bastard, one week a year cyclists are out in their spanking new Astana outfits and some of them even have new Pinarrello's. It's so fantastic to see them out though.

It is hard to describe the atmosphere in Adelaide. We're a bit of a sleepy haven normally but we party hard when things happen. We used to have a fantastic Grand Prix here on a street circuit....we lost that, and the TDU sort of replaced it (OK the petrol heads got their V8 week too). For a cycle enthusiast, the race is awesome. The stages are all ideal for forming fast echelons, taking well researched short cuts and getting to see the peleton whizz by multiple times. Or you can sit and have a BBQ, drink copious amounts of amber liquid and watch them go past once.

I haven't missed one...even between surgery and chemo one year I was out there with my silly home made banner supporting the local boys.....and learning just what testosterone does to your body by having none for a while.

This year it's kinda special for me. Lance, my-anti hero Hero has decided that 1274 days without glancing at people is enough and that it was time to do even more about trying to decrease the num8ers (i like that) of cancer sufferers in the world...as if he doesn't do enough....so he's decided to use the TDU as the launching pad....onya mate!!

I was hoping to get to catch up with my cancer bro....have him around for a BBQ and talk testicles and pretty bikes...or go for a nice leisurely jaunt through the hills and compare cadence...But I guess I'm gonna be kinda busy with racing and riding and looking after sick relatives and drinking copious amounts of any coloured fluid to both encourage and prevent dehydration. So i'll just wave as he goes past in the peleton and avoid the ever increasing public papparazzi that he seems to have attracted...I'm not good with noisy situations until I get my new ear.

But I'm gonna have a fun week and I wanna share it with you guys too.

On with the racing I say!!!