Month: July 2007

Something to smile about amidst all the scandal

After all the scandal of the previous couple of TdF days (who didn’t see the Rasmussen thing coming? Contador next, I tell ya), here’s something to smile about.

He is well in front of the 152 remaining riders (189 set off from London) in the three-week long Tour. In fact, he is 24 hours ahead as he has been along the entire route so far.

Mr Bream, however, will not be sporting any yellow jersey for winning this or any other stage of the prestigious race. Nor will his team coordinator, cook, medic, mechanic and mental coach – his mother Carolyn, 68 – be up for international accolades or sponsorship windfalls.

In a week when a blood-doping scandal involving the pre-race favourite Alexandr Vinokourov cast a shadow over the Tour, the British enthusiast is setting an inspirational example to amateur cyclists.

“He doesn’t have any sponsorship and we’re doing it on a shoestring,” Mrs Bream says, having stopped her van on the Col de la Pierre St Martin mountain pass in the Pyrenees to speak to the Guardian. “I reckon by the end of it we’ll have spent, oooh let’s see, £1,500, maybe a little more but £2,000 maximum.”

According to Mrs Bream, a former primary school teacher, each day – apart from rest days – her son sets off at 8am after a breakfast of bread rolls, jam, honey and coffee.

“At the beginning we were leaving earlier but we were starting before the race officials put arrows along the route and ended up going the wrong way,” she says. “Now we start half an hour before the arrow men. After 15km they overtake us with lots of hooting and waving and cheering and we don’t go astray.

Legend.

The Englishman who is leading the Tour de France

How your fitness affects your work life

This is something strongly in my mind at the moment.

I’m a sports addict, regularly playing rugby (3 times per week during season), sailing (twice weekly in summer) and cycling – mountain biking and cycle touring for holidays.

Starting my internet marketing business has serious impacted my fitness – for about 4 months I’ve done almost zero exercise.

I really can’t believe how much of a detrimental effect it’s had. I’ve taken back up sailing at least once a week, I’m in my first week of running from 7am-8am in the morning, and hopefully I’ll have time in late August to do a week or two touring in the Loire.

Hopefully I can report back in a couple of weeks time that I’m back on course. If so then I’ll be able to give good data on how much fitness actually does affects business performance.

Tour shock – Vinokourov tests positive

Vino leading breakaway in Stage 15 2007 TdF

I really was enjoying this year’s TdF, it was delivering really exciting tactical and strategic racing, especially the time trial and the 2 Pyrenees stages so far – brilliant! There’s been so much to enjoy up til now in the 2007 TdF:

  • Rasmussen-Contador’s cat and mouse routine in the mountains
  • Vino’s great TT win
  • Will Evans stay in GC contention in the Pyrenees after day 1?
  • Just how good will the Astana team be if they get their team strategy in order next year?
  • (before Vino’s 28 minute blow-up) Is Vino or Kloeden #1?
  • Lots of great up and coming riders

So what a shame and a shock it is to learn that Vino’s been done for homologous blood doping and worse again, the entire Astana team is withdrawn from the race!